Trade deal

Saturday

Constantin Eckner

The EU is taking a gamble with China

It took Brussels and Beijing seven years to agree an investment deal. A deal that, until its conclusion a few days ago, had been largely eclipsed by the Brexit process. Once the negotiations had concluded, however, the European side suddenly came under intense criticism — China, detractors said, was not the sort of country the EU should be cosying up to. That the deal was finalised on the penultimate day of the year was a sure sign that Angela Merkel was pushing for closure. She had stated before the pandemic that advancing EU-China relations would be one of the goals of Germany’s EU Council presidency (now passed on to Portugal).

Monday

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson: Britain must become the Superman of global free trade

This morning Boris Johnson spoke at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, setting out Britain’s plans for a trade deal with the EU. Below is a transcript of the speech: “It is great to welcome everyone here to Greenwich and I invite you first to raise your eyes to the heavens. The Vatican has Michelangelo. Greenwich has Thornhill who spent 20 years flat on his back on top of the scaffolding, so rigid that his arm became permanently wonky, and he’s left us this gorgeous and slightly bonkers symbolic scene that captures the spirit of the United Kingdom in the early 18th century. This painting above you was started

Sunday

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: ‘One year is enough’ to complete a UK-EU trade deal, says Tusk

Donald Tusk – ‘One year is enough’ to complete trade deal Andrew Marr spoke to the former President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. Boris Johnson’s critics have heaped scorn upon the idea that the UK and the EU can reach a comprehensive free trade agreement without extending the current Brexit transition period past the end of 2020. Tusk however, begged to differ on this: DT: One year is enough to finalise our negotiations… We have to demonstrate good will on both sides… Business is business… The campaign is also over. The game is over. The EU was either ‘bogeyman’ or ‘whipping boy’ Tusk lamented how he felt the EU

Thursday

James Forsyth

Mike Pompeo: the UK will be ‘front of the line’ for a trade deal

Given how hard Washington had been lobbying the UK government against allowing Huawei to have any role in the UK’s 5G network, there was a certain nervousness in Whitehall about the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to London this week. But judging by Pompeo’s appearance with Dominic Raab at Policy Exchange there was no need to worry. Pompeo declared that the UK/US relationship was in a ‘fantastic place’. He largely pulled his punches on Huawei. He emphasised the US’s view that the ‘Chinese Communist Party is the central threat of our times’ but he implied the US thought the UK’s eventual plan was to move away from Huawei