(CMR) After months of negotiations, the UK has finally reached a deal on future trade and relationships with the European Union following its official departure from the union in January.
The new deal which sets out how the UK and EU will live, work, and trade together, will begin on January 1, 2021.
There will be no tariffs and quotas under this new agreement when the UK trades goods with the EU. This is expected to keep the cost of trade down.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK had taken back control of its laws and destiny with the new deal.
He said,
“We have completed the biggest trade deal yet, worth 660 billion pounds a year, a comprehensive Canada-style free trade deal between the UK and the EU.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the single market would remain fair and that the UK laws will be respected. She said:
“We will continue cooperating with the UK in fields of mutual interest including things like climate change, energy, security and transport.”
She described the deal as a fair and balanced one and that it was the right and responsible thing for both sides to do.
The UK Parliament is expected to sign off on the deal before December 31, when the Brexit transition period ends.
Under the new deal, EU citizens will no longer live and work in Britain without visas, and Britons can no longer automatically work or retire in EU nations. The UK will not be taking part in the Erasmus exchange program for students.
This deal is also expected to affect the current relationship between the EU and British overseas territories, including the Cayman Islands.
The deal comes more than four years after a slim majority of Britons, 52% to 48 %, voted to quit the EU in a June 2016 referendum.
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