Thread: Brexit discussion
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Old 10-12-2017, 16:32   #1223
OLD BOY
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Re: Brexit discussion
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1 View Post
I've never said that but as the bigger negotiator it clearly holds the upper hand. That's how these things work I'm afraid.
But, as others and I have tried to explain, even if the EU had theoretically wanted to sign some amazing deals with the UK, its previous trade deals with third countries won't allow it to sign a more advantageous deal with a third country. So the UK has to decide upon an existing deal based upon the constraints that the Irish border issue imposes.



Your clear anti-EU bias comes through when you mention the US. Did it never occur to you, even for a minute, that it might be the US that's the difficult country? If you had been more open-minded and conducted some basic research you would see the US's problems with free trade and the EU's success at it. Trump scrapped the trade deal with the EU, a decision ironically popular with the left in Britain concerned about "backdoor" privatisation of the NHS.

Let's examine the facts. Here's a list of EU trade deals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe...ade_agreements
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/po...de-agreements/
Deals with 35 countries signed and in force.
Deals with a further 27 countries provisionally applied
Deals with a further 23 countries agreed but not signed
Above data excludes Japan recently signed!

The US has free trade deals with 20 countries including the countries in NAFTA.

Let's hone in on the US:
1. List of free trade deals
https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements

Two completed negotiations are mentioned at the foot of the list:
TPP - the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The US has now left this partnership.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...=.5562ef0a4bc0
T-TIP - the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership, mentioned at the foot of the document. Following Trump's election, the US quit this too. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/...-a7543706.html

2. Despite Canada and the US being in the NAFTA free trade area, Canada has just stopped buying some Boeing planes from the US in a trade dispute.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-c...-idUSKBN1DZ2W2

In conclusion, I'm not asking you to agree with me. My ask is that you do a little research first.
A fair point about the present state of affairs in relation to the US, but I don't agree with you that the EU holds the upper hand in these negotiations. They need us more than we need them, to be honest.
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