The Brexit trade negotiations have been suspended at a crucial stage because an EU negotiator has tested positive for the coronavirus. Any long suspension of talks will make it even tougher for the negotiator to clinch a deal ahead of the Jan. 1 deadline. Only on Wednesday a top European Union official said that trade talks with the United Kingdom still face “substantial work" that might spill over into next week. The UK left the EU on Jan. 31, but a transition period when EU rules apply to trade and other issues runs until the end of December. Both sides had hoped to get a trade deal by then to save hundreds of thousands of jobs that could be at stake if Brexit amounts to a brutal cliff edge divorce.

Source: Mint November 19, 2020 14:48 UTC