The Deal is Done, now we must look to the future

 

After four and a half years of intense negotiations, the EU and the UK have finally reached a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the Agreement) on their future relationship. This is a diplomatic triumph for Irish, EU and UK diplomats and civil servants who deserve immense credit for achieving what many commentators described as impossible. This deal means that there will be zero tariffs and zero quotas on trade between the UK and the EU in all goods that comply with the appropriate rules of origin. The Agreement also sets out preferential arrangements for the trade of services.

To evaluate this deal, it is important to look at it in the context of the UK’s ‘red lines’ and the EU’s stringent position on the ‘indivisibility of its four freedoms’, therefore in our view this deal should be considered a progressive first step in the post-Brexit EU-UK trading relationship. For the Chamber’s members, this deal will help to protect the nearly €90bn in trade across the Irish Sea which sustains 400,000 jobs throughout these islands.

To read Paul Lynam's synopsised summary of the extensive Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and the UK please click here.

 

For further information please contact Paul Lynam, Director of Policy, at paul.lynam@britishirishchamber.com