No new trade agreement can begin until the transition is over. Table “Signed Trade Agreements,” updated with the latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics The August round of negotiations ended on 21 August with “little progress. [44] [45] The EU`s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said there was little time left and said it was “unlikely” that an agreement could be reached. [44] Britain`s chief negotiator David Frost said: “An agreement is always possible, and that is still our goal, but it is clear that it will not be easy to achieve it. In a number of areas of future cooperation between the UK and the EU, substantial work is still needed if we are to implement them. We had some useful discussions this week, but there has been little progress. [44] Barnier questioned the sudden British surprise at the threat of the loss of interstate (and non-domestic) cabotage rights for British carriers, as this was an advantage of the internal market that the United Kingdom had left[44] and never available to third countries. [46] The VA also contains a “backstop” protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland that would leave the UK in a “single customs territory” with the EU at the end of the transition period, unless a new agreement on future relations between the UK and the EU comes into force, guaranteeing the absence of border controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland. This is partly due to the temporary tariff regime between the UK and the EU, proposed by the government in a technical communication in June 2018.

The June proposal proposed that further technical discussions with the EU be needed to find a common solution to ensure that the UK is able to fully implement the EU`s common external tariffs and allow the UK to continue to benefit from existing free trade agreements or new EU free trade agreements signed during this period. First, there has been less information on the government`s preparations to replace or deal with the agreements covered by the EU`s many international agreements on non-trade agreements. Trade agreements also aim to remove quotas – limiting the amount of goods that can be traded. Any existing EU agreement, which will not be rushed, will end on 31 December and future trade will take place on WTO terms until an agreement is reached. This document was subsequently updated, reflecting the new default withdrawal date of October 31, 2019 and the progress made in reaching agreements in certain areas.