UK cranks up pressure on EU to turn Brexit talks to trade

Bloomberg

The UK is piling pressure on the European Union to shift the focus of Brexit negotiations away from the terms of divorce and onto their future relationship.
Britain will publish a flurry of documents in the coming days laying out the government’s position on topics ranging from data protection to judicial cooperation. Five papers are due to be published in the week starting on Monday, the Department for Exiting the European Union said in a statement on Sunday. The next round of negotiations is due to start on August 29.
Before talks can move on to commerce, Prime Minister Theresa May needs to convince EU leaders at an October summit that enough progress has been made on residency rights, the UK’s exit bill and the border with Ireland.
The EU has been unwavering in its stance that details of the separation must be sorted out first, and the 27 other EU nations have united behind their lead negotiator Michel Barnier in the past five months. The UK insists it wants to hold trade and divorce talks in tandem.
Writing in the Sunday Times newspaper, Brexit Secretary David Davis warned that “with the clock ticking” toward the March 2019 departure date there is no point in negotiating aspects of Brexit twice. He pointed to Northern Ireland as an issue where divorce and trade talks need to go hand in hand. “It is simply not possible to reach a near-final agreement on the border issue until we’ve begun to talk about how our broader future customs arrangements will work,” he wrote. “Furthermore, if we get the comprehensive free trade agreement we’re seeking as part of our future partnership, solutions in Northern Ireland are easier to deliver.”

‘Beyond Doubt’
The five upcoming papers are “all part of our work to drive the talks forward, and make sure we can show beyond doubt that we have made sufficient progress on withdrawal issues by October,” Davis said. Britain is “putting forward imaginative and creative solutions to build a deep and special partnership with our closest neighbors and allies.”
On Monday, Britain plans to publish papers on “goods on the market” and “confidentiality of documents.” The first is a response to an EU paper setting out provisions that goods made available for sale before Brexit should still be available for purchase in both the EU and UK after Britain’s withdrawal.
Davis will say the EU proposals should extend to related services; for example, a maintenance contract that comes with the sale of an elevator. While the document will only cover a small part of the withdrawal deal, it foreshadows the fight Britain faces to ensure services are covered in a future trade deal with the EU.
Services make up 80 percent
of the gross value added to the British economy, compared with an EU-wide 74 percent.
The data protection and judicial cooperation papers will come later in the week, along with one on proposed mechanisms for dispute resolution once the European Court of Justice no longer has jurisdiction in the UK.
The government received a boost on Sunday as a group of pro-Brexit economists estimated that leaving the EU single market and customs union could add $173 billion to the UK economy and lower prices by opening up global free trade and spurring competition.

Pound vulnerable as UK prepares Brexit plan details
Bloomberg

Brexit may dominate factors influencing the pound’s fortunes again this week, with the UK set to lay out its position in at least three areas of negotiation with the European Union.
Uncertainty about the next round of Britain-EU talks due by month-end could weigh on sterling, which was the worst-performing Group-of-10 currency last week. The UK is said to be preparing to publish on Monday details on how it will treat confidential EU information obtained before Brexit and on goods placed on supply chains in the EU single market.
While more information on
the government’s plans is a favourable development,” sterling could be stuck as “there’s a number of potholes on the road forward in negotiations,” said Lee Hardman, foreign-exchange strategist at MUFG in London. “The market is still very cautious and uncertain on what the final outcome will be.”
Currency markets will also focus on a gathering of top central bankers in Wyoming for their annual policy summit at Jackson Hole between August 24-26.