Bloomberg: Countries reject EU-UK plan to shape post-Brexit trade at WTO

09 October 2018

More than a dozen countries said they opposed the European Union’s proposal to modify its World Trade Organization commitments to account for Britain’s forthcoming departure from the bloc.

The U.S., China, Japan, Canada, Brazil and others said Tuesday the EU’s plan is unacceptable because it includes inaccurate and incomplete trade data that may unfairly impact the region’s current WTO trade terms.

This latest development marks a significant setback for the EU and the U.K. as both sides struggle to hammer out their divorce agreement. The U.K. is meant to be leaving the bloc on March 29, 2019 though there are stubborn issues to resolve before then.

The members also disliked the U.K.’s separate plan to replicate the EU’s WTO trade terms. The complaints center on the most important part of the EU’s membership in the WTO -- its schedule of concessions, which outlines tariff rates and other trade rules by which other countries may sell goods and services to the European marketplace.

Full article on Bloomberg


© Bloomberg