EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned today that there is still risk of a cliff edge Brexit at the end of 2020. He said, negotiation with the UK on trade “is not usual because at the end of this year, the UK is leaving the single market, it is it’s choice, it is leaving the customs union”. “If we have no agreement, it will not be business as usual and the status quo, we have to face the risk of a cliff edge, in particular for trade.”
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the EU has an upper hand in the trade talks because of its size. He told BBC, “the European Union is a union of 27 member states. The UK is only one country. And we have a population and a market of 450 million people”. He also acknowledged that “it will be difficult” to complete the
