French president Emmanuel Macron has called for an overhaul of the European Union’s internal border agreement after noting that terrorists have used migration flows.

The French leader said he would be proposing to the European Council next month an overhaul to the EU’s Schengen agreement, including “greater control” within the political bloc.

The European Union is likely to impose tariffs on $4 billion worth of imports from the US next week, anonymous EU diplomats said on 6 November. According to the officials, a majority of the bloc’s governments have given the green light to introduce the punitive measures against the United States, which will hit a range of goods, from potatoes, fruits, nuts, and other agricultural produce, to parts of planes, alcoholic beverages, and equipment used in casinos.

The tariffs are expected to be put in place during a meeting of EU trade ministers, which is scheduled for 9 November.

“I would expect the tariffs to be imposed next Tuesday or Wednesday”, an EU diplomat said.

The punitive measure was previously approved by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and will mirror US tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of EU goods and services that Washington imposed in October 2019. The two cases represent the world’s largest corporate trade dispute.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has not commented on the issue. However, last month he emphasised that any restrictive measures from the European Union would “force a US response”. US President Donald Trump previously threatened to “strike back harder” if the bloc introduces tariffs. Although the results of the 2020 presidential election in the United are still unclear, even if Trump loses, his administration would have plenty of time to impose tariffs, as he will remain president until 20 January 2021.

The dispute between the United States and the European Union started in 2004, with both sides accusing each other of illegal financial assistance to aircraft manufacturers. Washington said Brussels was providing subsidies to Airbus through low interest rates, while the EU, in turn, accused the United States of offering financial support via tax breaks. Both sides filed complaints with the WTO.

The EU is closely following the Presidential and Congressional elections in the United States.

We take note of the latest development in the electoral process. On this basis the EU congratulates President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on reaching enough Electoral Votes.

We welcome the record voter turnout.

We follow the process of certification of results and are confident that the US electoral system will soon announce the final outcome.

The EU underlines, once again, its commitment to a strong transatlantic partnership and stands ready to engage with the elected President, new Congress and Administration.

The European Union and Britain said on Saturday major divergences remain but that post-Brexit negotiations would continue next week to clinch a trade deal in the scant time left.

Following a phone call with Boris Johnson, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the differences were “large”, while the British prime minister described them as “significant”.

EU negotiator Michel Barnier said he would head back to London Sunday to resume talks with UK counterpart David Frost next week.

Despite multiple rounds of talks, including two weeks of “intense” meetings that ended Wednesday, the sides remain far apart on fishing rights and rules for competition between British and European companies.

“Some progress has been made, but large differences remain especially on level playing field and fisheries. Our teams will continue working hard next week,” von der Leyen tweeted.

Johnson said the negotiating teams would reconvene in London on Monday, “in order to redouble efforts to reach a deal”, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

“The prime minister set out that, while some progress had been made in recent discussions, significant differences remain in a number of areas, including the so-called level playing field and fish,” he said.

Both leaders agreed to remain in personal contact as well, signalling a stepped-up political effort to secure a new trading partnership before Britain ends a post-Brexit transition period on December 31.

Before then, several weeks are needed for any treaty to be vetted and ratified by both sides, and observers have said they will be cutting it very fine if agreement is not reached by mid-November.

Red lines

Both sides had warned earlier in the year that a draft deal should be on the table before the end of October if it is to be ratified by the EU and UK parliaments before the end of the year.

But the talks blew past this unofficial deadline, and Britain could yet leave the EU single market and customs union at midnight on December 31 with no follow-on framework for cross-Channel business.

Both sides say they would prefer to avoid the economic disruption that this would entail, but both insist the are ready if it comes to that, and neither is yet ready to cross their red lines. 

For Britain, this means reasserting sovereignty over its fishing waters and for Brussels agreeing rules to prevent UK businesses gaining an unfair advantage over EU competitors.   

Barnier said he was going to London “to find an agreement that respects the interests and values of the EU and its 27 member states.”

LONDON (AP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the head of the European Union’s executive arm agreed Saturday to stay in contact as their negotiating teams step up efforts to conclude a post-Brexit trade deal between the U.K. and the European Union before time runs out.

                  With less than two months to go before the U.K. exits the <a href="/topics/european-union/">EU</a>’s economic orbit, a spokesman at Johnson’s Downing Street office said the negotiating teams would “redouble efforts to reach a deal” when talks resume in London on Monday.












                  The spokesman said Johnson told European Commission President Ursula <a class="wpil_keyword_link " href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_von_der_Leyen"  title="von der Leyen" data-wpil-keyword-link="linked">von der Leyen</a> during a Saturday telephone call that “significant differences” remain despite “some progress” in the negotiators’ recent discussions.
















                  In a similar sounding statement, Von der Leyen noted some progress as well as “large differences” in the trade talks, adding that the negotiating teams will “continue working hard” to secure a deal.












                  Both sides said the main issues at hand related to a so-called “level playing field” governing business regulations and fisheries.














                  Though the U.K. left the <a href="/topics/european-union/">EU</a> on Jan. 31, it remains within the bloc’s tariff-free single market and customs union until the end of the year. In order for a deal to pass the necessary legislative hurdles, an agreement has to be secured soon, potentially over the next week.




























                  A trade deal would ensure there are no tariffs and quotas on trade in goods between the two sides, but there would still be technical costs, partly associated with customs checks and non-tariff barriers on services. 












                  Though both sides would suffer economically from a failure to secure a trade deal, most economists think the British economy would take a greater hit, at least in the near-term, as it is relatively more reliant on trade with the <a href="/topics/european-union/">EU</a> than vice versa.












                  When the <a href="/topics/european-union/">EU</a>’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and his British counterpart, David Frost, meet next week, they may know the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.









                    <a name="pagebreak"/>




                  Though the election is not connected directly, many analysts say it could have a bearing on the discussions. 










                  President Donald Trump was a Brexit cheerleader and said he wanted to conclude a trade deal with the U.K. following reelection. In contrast, Trump’s Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, has voiced worries about the impact of Brexit on the peace process on the island of Ireland. Biden said he would seek to rebuild U.S. ties with the <a href="/topics/european-union/">EU</a>, were he to become president. 

                  ___

                  Follow all AP stories about Brexit and British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/brexit







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LONDON: The European Union and Britain said on Saturday (Nov 7) major divergences remain in their Brexit talks but that negotiations would continue next week to try to clinch a trade deal in the scant time left.

After a call between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, both said talks would continue but that the main sticking points remained.

“The prime minister set out that, while some progress had been made in recent discussions, significant differences remain in a number of areas, including the so-called level playing field and fish,” a spokesman for Johnson’s office said.

There was a similar message from Von der Leyen.

“Some progress has been made, but large differences remain especially on level playing field and fisheries,” she said on Twitter.

READ: Brexit talks go into another week as EU, UK push to salvage trade deal

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Britain formally left the EU last January but has been following the bloc’s rules since then as the two sides try to agree on their future trade relationship.

The transition period ends on Dec 31 but negotiators are still trying to reach an agreement to protect nearly a trillion dollars in annual trade from possible quotas and tariffs.

Both sides say an agreement can be struck before then but little progress has been made over the issues of corporate fair play, fishing rights and the settling of disputes.

READ: EU’s Barnier says ‘very serious’ gaps still in Brexit trade talks

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The chief negotiators, the EU’s Michel Barnier and Britain’s David Frost, will resume talks in London on Monday and will “redouble efforts to reach a deal”, Johnson’s office said.

“Our teams will continue working hard next week. We will remain in close contact in the next days,” Von der Leyen said.

Time is running out for an agreement this year, and European lawmakers who discussed the matter on Friday said that for this to happen, a deal must be in place by the middle of this month.

Even if there is a deal, a report this week said trade between Britain and the EU still faces widespread disruption from Jan 1, while systems needed to implement requirements of the Brexit divorce deal will not be ready.