BREXIT: UK Seeks To Reassure U.S. While Sides Trade Barbs

By Tara Oakes

     BRUSSELS (MNI) - The UK's senior Brexit minister, David Davis, sought to

quell international Brexit fears at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Friday.

     A day after a damning assessment of the latest round of talks by his EU

counterpart Michel Barnier, Davis flew to Washington D.C. to try and convince

businesses that all would be well.

     Telling the crowded audience a good Brexit deal was "in the best interest

of the UK, the EU and the whole world", Davis pushed a vision of post-EU Britain

shored up by a raft of new FTAs.

     "This is the great prize we can win from Brexit: a Britain committed to

strike new free trade agreements across the globe -- including with the European

Union," Davis said.

     But the UK's hopes for a "new, deep and special" partnership with the EU

replicating or enhancing current trade deals is stuck on the back foot, as EU

negotiators refuse to budge from their strict mandate to sort out separation

issues before discussing the future.

     Davis also urged listeners not to reject globalisation, in comments that

would resonate with a domestic audience familiar with President Trump's "America

First" rhetoric.

     "The answer to these challenges is not turn inwards and become isolationist

... It's to lead the world forward again," Davis added.

     Minor progress was made in some issues of citizens' rights in this round,

but even details like the status of qualifications of EU students currently

studying in the UK and vice versa is currently deadlocked by the EU as being too

future-regarding for this stage of talks.

     TIT FOR TAT

     Despite Davis' reassuring tone across the pond, key figures from both sides

lashed out the other in the British press after negotiations were once again

seen as a dud.

     UK Trade Secretary Liam Fox railed against the EU from Japan after the

talks flopped on the financial settlement, saying the UK "can't be blackmailed".

     Guy Verhofstadt, the Brexit point man in the European Parliament, which

will ultimately have to approve any Brexit deal, wrote in The Telegraph that the

UK has long enjoyed a "bespoke form of membership" which he believes refutes

accusations of Brussels' inflexibility.

     Verhofstadt, like many in the EU, have had enough of giving the UK special

treatment. With just over two weeks until the next round of talks, it remains to

be seen whether Davis can fulfil his promise of an ambitious new future for

Britain or whether the devil is still lurking in the detail of the first stage

negotiations.

--MNI Brussels Bureau; +44 203-865-3851; email: tara.oakes@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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