Morning Trade UK: Pompeo in town - Brexit gaps - Trade Bill vote

Press quote (Politico)
Sam Lowe
21 July 2020

“I don’t think the talks will fall apart — but the negotiators are clearly at an impasse,” Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think-tank told Morning Trade UK. “The negotiators, and particularly David Frost, have reached the limits of what they are able to achieve … this is a political negotiation, not a technocratic one.”

Lowe argues that “the EU will need to move away from its maximalist positions on fish and state aid (something it has indicated it is prepared to do), and the U.K. will need to accept enforceable level playing field commitments.” It’s not difficult to sketch out a compromise, but negotiating teams need permission from political leaders to make it happen, Lowe said. He expects “substantial progress” ahead of the EU’s October deadline.