EU and UK agree Brexit scheme to ease N.Ireland trade

Malay mail – AFP, Wednesday, 09 Dec 2020

Senior UK minister Michael Gove confirmed that a deal agreed with Brussels
this week ensured Northern Ireland business 'will be free of all tariffs'. — Reuters pic 

ONDON, Dec 9 — The UK and the European Union have agreed a scheme to ease the flow of goods between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland after Brexit, London said today.

Trading arrangements for Northern Ireland have been a major sticking point in the Brexit process given that it will have Britain’s only land border with the EU from January 1. 

The prospect of imposing tariffs on all goods travelling to Northern Ireland from mainland Britain arose because of the risk of them crossing into the EU’s single market, via member state Ireland. 

But London said that was unacceptable, as it would cut Northern Ireland off from the rest of the UK. 

Senior UK minister Michael Gove confirmed that a deal agreed with Brussels this week ensured Northern Ireland business “will be free of all tariffs”. 

“British sausages will continue to make their way to Belfast and Ballymena in the New Year,” Gove told lawmakers. 

He also said a “trusted trader” scheme would “guarantee goods being sold in Northern Ireland and businesses operating in Northern Ireland will face no tariffs”. 

Irish state broadcaster RTE said the exemptions of tariffs would cover up to 98 percent of goods moving from England, Scotland and Wales to Northern Ireland from January 1. 

“The other two percent would potentially avail of rebates from any tariffs,” it said, adding the charges would mostly apply only in case Britain and the EU fail to reach a free trade deal in separate talks. 

A deal remains elusive, despite months of negotiations ahead of a December 31 deadline for one to be in place in time for the New Year. 

The separate agreement on Northern Ireland trade allows for some EU officials to be present at ports in the province as observers, but UK officials said they will not be allowed to carry out checks themselves. 

Neither will they be allowed to wear uniforms, and Gove said there was no prospect of the EU setting up a “mini embassy” in Northern Ireland, a prospect that has been denounced by Brexiteer lawmakers in the ruling Conservative party. 

“Limited and proportionate border facilities” between Northern Ireland and Ireland would be in place to conduct some checks on the transport of food and animals, Gove added. 

Keeping the border open, free of infrastructure and customs checks, was a key plank of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that largely ended 30 years of violence over British rule in Northern Ireland. — AFP

EU green lights trade talks with Washington to defuse tension

Yahoo – AFP, Lachlan CARMICHAEL, April 15, 2019

The EU's 28 member states had struggled for months to agree on a mandate to open
 trans-Atlantic talks, with some fearing the delay would restart a trade war with
President Donald Trump (AFP Photo/STR)

Brussels (AFP) - European Union countries on Monday overruled France and gave the green light for Brussels to open trade talks with Washington as soon as possible and defuse trans-Atlantic tensions.

The EU's 28 member states had struggled for months to agree on a mandate to open the talks, with some fearing the delay would restart a trade war with US President Donald Trump.

But EU ministers meeting in Luxembourg approved a mandate to negotiate "an agreement limited to the elimination of tariffs for industrial goods only" and another accord designed to remove non-tariff barriers.

The ministers said the mandate would exclude agriculture products, which EU trade minister Cecilia Malmstrom said amounted to a "red line" for Europe.

US officials have pushed for farm products to be included.

"I will now get in contact with our American partners with a view to organising a date for the first round as soon as possible," Malmstrom told a press conference in Brussels.

"If we agree to start, I think it can go quite quickly," the Swedish commissioner added.

Malmstrom underlined the determination of the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, to finish the talks before its five-year term ends on October 31.

'Climate chaos'

EU sources said France voted against the mandate and Belgium abstained during the Luxembourg meeting.

Pursuing a limited trade deal is a key element of a truce negotiated in July that came close earlier this month to imploding after the US threatened $11 billion in fresh trade tariffs against Europe.

Paris voted against the mandate over worries about domestic blowback just months ahead of European elections, set for May 23 to 26.

EU trade minister Cecilia Malmstrom said she w"ill now get in contact with our 

American partners with a view to organising a date for the first round as soon 

as possible" (AFP Photo/EMMANUEL DUNAND)

French President Emmanuel Macron has insisted the US first sign back up to the Paris climate accord after Trump dumped the pact in 2017, infuriating Macron.

But only a qualified majority of EU members was needed to support the talks, meaning France's "non" remained largely symbolic.

Greenpeace has called on the Commission and national governments not to enter into trade negotiations with any country that rejects the Paris climate pact.

"EU-Trump trade talks would seriously call into question the EU’s resolve on climate change," Greenpeace's Naomi Ages said, warning time was running out to prevent "climate chaos."

In a bid to win France over, its EU partners agreed to insist on environmental guarantees during the talks with Washington.

In another sop, they also made a specific mention that TTIP, a far more ambitious transatlantic trade plan that never materialised, be officially called "obsolete".

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Paratnership talks stalled following widespread protests in Germany, France and Austria over fears it would undermine EU standards on food and health.

At France's demand, agricultural products are also off the table.

'Ease trade tensions'

Berlin wants the limited deal in order to placate Trump and avoid US auto tariffs that would punish Germany's cherished exports.

The mandate from the EU stipulates that the talks would end if the US pursued more levies against Europe, including on cars. It also says the EU cannot conclude the negotiations as long as the metal tariffs remain.

The limited deal concerns only industrial goods, excluding the automotive sector. Fishing is also included, but not agriculture, services or public procurement.

The US however insists its wants to discuss agriculture, while Europeans would like to include cars. Both sides will have to bridge the gaps before the start of talks.

At a meeting last July at the White House, Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pledged no new tariffs following those on steel and aluminium.

That peace was in danger earlier this month after the US threatened to impose tariff counter-measures of up to $11.2 billion on a host of European products in response to subsidies received by aircraft maker Airbus.

But Malmstrom said: "This is a welcome decision that will help ease trade tensions."

Ireland won't be 'back door' into EU if no-deal Brexit: Irish PM

Yahoo – AFP, April 2, 2019

Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar speaks to the press after a meeting
with the French president at the Elysee Palace in Paris on April 2, 2019 (AFP Photo/
Ludovic MARIN)

Paris (AFP) - Ireland does not want to become a "back door" into the EU single market for Britain in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Tuesday in Paris.

"We don't want Ireland to be a back door to the single market, anymore than anybody wants us to become a back door to the single market," Varadkar said after a meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Varadkar said he was committed to preventing goods that do not meet EU norms from entering Ireland or the EU.

"In the unlikely event that we have a no-deal and the UK were to do trade deals with the US or China and we had chlorinated chicken or hormone beef, or products made by child labour in Asian countries, the last thing we would want is that coming south of the border into the Republic of Ireland.

"And we certainly wouldn't want it getting through the Republic of Ireland into the European Union," he said.

But he again reiterated his opposition to creating a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, for fear that it could jeopardise peace in the British province.

Varadkar said that while physical inspections would be necessary on imports like live animals, they could be done at ports in Northern Ireland rather than in the Irish Republic.

"That is the right and best place for them," he said.

But the British government has refused to envisage carrying out customs checks on goods arriving in northern Ireland from Britain, arguing that to do so would drive a wedge through the United Kingdom.

The EU's Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said Tuesday that the EU was working with Ireland "on a unilateral basis in the event of no deal, to know where we can do these checks," but refused to elaborate further.

Brexit is a blue fluffy monster, according to the Dutch

DutchNews, February 14, 2019

Photo: Rijksoverheid.nl

Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok launched a new campaign urging Dutch businesses to get ready for Brexit next month – in which the starring role is given to a hairy blue monster. 

‘Have you checked the consequences Brexit will have for you or your company,’ Blok says on Twitter, while posing next to an office desk. ‘Make sure Brexit does not get in your way.’ 

Heb jij al gecheckt welke gevolgen Brexit voor jou of je bedrijf heeft? Doe de Brexit Impact Scan op https://t.co/eytAlAwphK of kijk op https://t.co/U64nYectmE. Zorg dat Brexit jou niet in de weg zit....of ligt. pic.twitter.com/LWKOLnLPQl

— Stef Blok (@ministerBlok) February 14, 2019

Commenters have asked if Sesame Street character Pino has lost his way or if leading Brexiteer Boris Johnson has had a blue rinse. Others have dismissed the campaign as infantile and embarrassing. 

Website 

The aim of the campaign is to encourage companies to visit the foreign ministry checklist where companies can find out more of the likely impact of Brexit on their operations. 

At the beginning of this month, the Dutch customs office wrote to 72,277 Dutch firms which do business with the UK warning them to make sure they are properly prepared for Brexit. 

The service’s general director Nanette van Schelven told the Financieele Dagblad in an interview it is ‘high time for action’ because many companies are not ready to deal with the consequences. 

The fluffy monster campaign was launched a day after Dutch prime minister warned that a no-deal Brexit will have a ‘devasting’ impact on Britain.

Mark Rutte, with Swiss president Ueli Maurer. Photo: Anthony Anex/Keystone via AP/HH

Related Article:

Dutch PM calls for a realistic, strong Europe, warns of Brexit ‘devastation’

EU and Japan create world's biggest free trade zone

DW, 1 February 2019

Almost all tariffs on trade between the European Union and the world's third-biggest economy have been removed. European companies could save around a billion euros in duties each year.

   

A free trade agreement between Japan and the EU entered into force on February 1, covering 635 million people and almost one-third of the world's economy.

Dubbed the world's largest free trade agreement, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement removes duties on almost all agricultural and industrial products and opens up the service sector and procurement. It also moves to eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade.

The highlights of the deal

• Japan will have scrappped duties on 97 percent of goods imported from the EU once the agreement is fully implemented.
• Open access to the Japanese market will save EU companies from paying €1 billion ($1.14 billion) of duties annually.
• The EU will eliminate tariffs on 99 percent of imports from Japan.
• In the automotive sector, the EU will eliminate duties over a seven-year transition period.
• Both sides will eliminate duties on nearly all food and agricultural products.
• The service market will be opened, including financial services, e-commerce, telecommunications and transport.
• For the first time, the trade agreement includes countries' Paris climate deal commitments.
• The text also addresses sustainable development and sets standards for labor, safety, environmental and consumer protection.

'Protecting brand names'

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said: "This agreement has it all: it scraps tariffs and contributes to the global rulebook, whilst at the same time demonstrating to the world that we both remain convinced by the benefits of open trade."

The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said: "The new agreement will give consumers greater choice and cheaper prices; it will protect great European products in Japan and vice-versa, such as the Austrian Tiroler Speck or Kobe Beef; it will give small businesses on both sides the chance to branch out to a completely new market; it will save European companies 1 billion euro in duties every year and turbo-boost the trade we already do together."

Trade groups also welcomed the move.

"This agreement is the perfect example that building bridges is better than raising walls," said Pierre Gattaz, president of BusinessEurope. "When protectionism is on the rise, the EU and Japan show to the world they remain open to modern and rules-based trade."

Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, said the agreement "will stimulate additional growth and create jobs for both sides."

Read more: Japan wants to attract more European travelers

The deal protects 'Geographical Indications' such as Cheddar, Kobe beef and
Scotch whiskey

What is the status of EU-Japan trade?

Japan is the EU’s second-largest trade partner in Asia after China. EU businesses export €58 billion in goods and €28 billion in services to Japan every year. The EU estimates exports to Japan will increase 13 percent, or €13 billion, as a result of the free trade zone.  Japan exports €69 billion in goods and €18 billion in services to the EU annually.

How did we get here and what’s next?

The EU and Japan began negotiations for a free trade agreement in 2013. The European Parliament and Japan’s parliament approved the deal last year after both sides finalized negotiations in December 2017.

EU and Japan are continuing investment protection negotiations and hope to reach an understanding as soon as possible.

EU parliament approves huge Japan trade deal

Yahoo – AFP, Clément ZAMPA, December 12, 2018

Containers sit piled on the docks as a ship sits docked at the international cargo
terminal at Tokyo's port on February 19, 2018 (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro NOGI)

Brussels (AFP) - The European Parliament on Wednesday approved an accord with Japan that has been dubbed the world's biggest trade deal, covering economies that represent a third of the world's GDP.

The agreement will go into effect in February and was celebrated as a victory for Europe as a free trade champion in the face of US President Donald Trump's protectionism and Britain's decision to leave the EU.

"Our economic partnership with Japan -– the biggest trade zone ever negotiated –- is now very close to becoming a reality," EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said.

Talking to AFP before lawmakers voted by 474 votes to 152 to back the deal, Malmstrom called it "a symbol, a signal" and added: "We're showing that for our part, we're in favour of open but regulated trade."

The deal was confirmed even as British Prime Minister Theresa May defended her faltering attempt to negotiate Britain's orderly departure from the European Union before a boisterous House of Commons.

But, ironically, some EU leaders see the wide-ranging deal they have agreed with far-off Japan as a possible model for future commercial relations with the United Kingdom, once it formally quits the bloc.

"Everything is uncertain with the United Kingdom for the moment, but one day or another we'll have to negotiate something," Malmstrom said, predicting a British deal would "go even further" than Japan's.

Covering more than 630 million people and economies that add up to around a third of global output, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement has been under discussion since 2013.

When it goes into effect it will regulate almost all commerce between the Asian giant and the 27 remaining EU economies and, according to Malmstrom, will benefit in particular European farmers.

The pro-business lobby welcomed the deal.

"Approving the EU-Japan EPA, the European Parliament delivers on what business and citizens need in a time of political and economic uncertainty," said BusinessEurope Director General Markus Beyrer.

"This agreement is projected to increase exports between the two economies by 34 percent for the EU and 29 percent for Japan, liberalising up to 99 percent of bilateral trade," he argued.

"The elimination of tariffs will save consumers and importers one billion euro per year in the EU and will support a substantial increase of jobs, maximising benefits for both companies and citizens."

Once the is fully implemented, some 85 percent of EU farm products will be eligible for tariff free export to Japan, although in some cases this will come after a period of transition.

Customs duties on beef, for example, will be progressively reduced, and rice, a source of national pride in Japan, will be excluded from the deal.

Tokyo has also agreed to recognise more than 200 "geographic signifiers", allowing iconic European products like Roquefort cheese, Tirolean speck and Polish "Wodka" to protect their brand value.

For their part, the Japanese will win free access to the European automobile market after a multi-year transition period.

Consumer choice

In a nod to the environmental and anti-globalist groups who have lobbied against this and other EU trade agreements, it includes chapters on sustainable development and the Paris climate change accord.

This was not enough to appease at least three NGOs -- the Foundation for Man and Nature (FNH) the Veblen Institute and Foodwatch -- who denounced a deal they said was "negotiated in the shadows".

"The European Parliament agreed to a trade agreement that damages European democracy," Lena Blanken of Foodwatch said.

The deal "restricts the legislative authority of the EU and its member states, jeopardises the European precautionary principle and establishes committees without sufficient democratic control."

But Malmstrom was unrepentant.

"With or without a deal, we do trade with far off countries. That's commerce," she told AFP.

"In the end, it's consumers who decide," she said, adding that, while many might prefer to buy locally, Europe would work with Japan to reduce the environmental impact of long-distance shipments.

With the deal, the EU is seeking access to one of the world's richest markets, while Japan hopes to jump-start an economy that has struggled to find solid growth for more than a decade.

Europe, Japan sign massive free trade deal

Yahoo – AFP, 17 July 2018

The huge deal was signed as President Donald Trump unsettles allies and
provokes rivals with his aggressive "America First" trade policy

The EU and Japan signed a sweeping free trade deal Tuesday that officials called a "clear message" against protectionism, as Washington imposes controversial tariffs and threatens a trade war.

The deal signed in Tokyo by the EU's top officials and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is the biggest ever negotiated by the EU and creates a free trade zone covering nearly a third of the world's GDP.

"We are sending a clear message that we stand together against protectionism," EU Council President Donald Tusk said.

"Together we are making -- by signing this agreement -- a statement about free and fair trade, we are showing that we are stronger and better off when we work together," added Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.

The huge deal was signed as President Donald Trump unsettles allies and provokes rivals with his aggressive "America First" trade policy.

Both the EU and Japan have been hit with new US tariffs despite their longstanding alliances with Washington.

Juncker said the deal sent a message that "trade is about more than tariffs and barriers, it is about values".

"There is no protection in protectionism," he said.

Abe, standing alongside the two EU officials, said the agreement, "shows the world the unshaken political will of Japan and the EU to lead the world as the champions of free trade at a time when protectionism has spread".

British PM wins cabinet backing for UK-EU free trade area

Yahoo – AFP, Dario THUBURN, July 6, 2018

Leaked proposals suggest Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May will propose
to keep and commit to future EU rules on trade (AFP Photo/Tolga AKMEN)

London (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May won agreement Friday from her warring cabinet to pursue "a UK-EU free trade area" after Brexit, as she bids to unblock negotiations with the bloc amid warnings time is running out to get a deal.

The proposal would create "a common rule book for industrial goods and agricultural products", May said in a statement following a day of talks at Chequers, the 16th-century manor house near London that serves as her official country retreat.

She added ministers also settled on "a new business-friendly customs model", which would maintain high standards but allow Britain "to strike new trade deals around the world" once it has left the European Union next March.

The government believes that plan would allow Britain to maintain frictionless trade with the EU in goods, avoid customs checks on the sensitive Irish border, and end both free movement of people and jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Britain.

The positions were agreed at the much-anticipated cabinet meeting as rumours swirled that ministers such as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson could oppose elements of the stance and resign.

"Today in detailed discussions the cabinet has agreed our collective position for the future of our negotiations with the EU," the prime minister said.

"Next week we will be publishing a white paper which will set out more details of how we will be taking back control of our money, laws and borders," she added.

"Now we must all move at pace to negotiate our proposal with the EU."

'Stick to timetable'

Less than nine months before Britain leaves the bloc, May's government is finally setting out exactly what it wants following public splits about how aligned it will remain with the EU.

The lack of progress has frustrated European leaders, who are stepping up preparations in case there is no agreement at all, and businesses which are being increasingly vocal about the risks to jobs and investment.

The cabinet agreed Friday that Britain's own preparations for a so-called "no deal" scenario with the EU should also be intensified, according to the government.

Socio-economic indicators comparing the UK with other

EU states (AFP Photo)

Agreeing a common position among her divided ministers is only one element of the Brexit process -- the hardest part will be getting agreement from Brussels, which has repeatedly warned Britain to lower its expectations.

The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Friday said: "I'm ready to adapt our offer should the UK's red lines change... Ideally the UK's proposals will facilitate both the UK's internal political debate and the negotiation with us."

Faced with the risk of an impasse, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, has mentioned the possibility of extending talks and therefore delaying Britain's departure date.

But this would depend on a unanimous decision by EU leaders.

"We want to stick to the timetable agreed," European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday.

Businesses have upped the pressure for an agreement ahead of the meeting, with Airbus chief executive Tom Enders saying at a briefing on Friday that May's government had "no clue or at least no consensus" on avoiding serious harm from Brexit.

Half-in, half-out

Under the cabinet's plan, Britain would be half-in, half-out of the European single market -- something the EU and Brexit hardliners in May's own Conservative party will struggle to accept.

The hoped-for free trade area and new customs arrangement "would avoid friction at the border... and ensure both sides meet their commitments to Northern Ireland and Ireland", according to a Downing Street summary.

London has pledged to avoid customs checks on the border between Northern Ireland, which will be leaving the EU along with the rest of Britain, and Ireland, which will remain a bloc member.

The issue has proved a key sticking point in Brexit negotiations.

The newly-agreed plan would smooth trade in agricultural, food and fisheries products, and protect integrated supply chains and just-in-time processes.

The British cabinet also agreed to strive for "a joint institutional framework" to interpret and apply any future relationship, No. 10 said.

"This would be done in the UK by UK courts, and in the EU by EU courts –- with due regard paid to EU case law in areas where the UK continued to apply a common rulebook," it said.

But Brexiteers in parliament have voiced strong opposition to any continued role for the European Court of Justice.

Meanwhile, the cabinet proposal would retain regulatory flexibility for its dominant services sector, "where the potential trading opportunities outside the EU are the largest", in return for restricted access to EU markets.

It accepts the end to current "passporting" rights allowing British financial firms to operate freely in the EU, but suggests arrangements "that preserve the mutual benefits of integrated markets and protect financial stability".

Although May appeared to avoid any ministerial resignations Friday, initial reaction to the plan did not bode well.

"We have now seen Theresa May's true colours," said John Longworth, of the Leave Means Leave pro-Brexit pressure group.

"This is a bad deal for the UK which will only slide further as the EU take more and more."

EU green-lights talks on Australia, NZ trade deals

Yahoo – AFP, May 22, 2018

EU Commissioner of Trade Cecilia Malmstrom welcomed the mandates adding that
the deals with Australia and New Zealand would be "win-win" for both sides (AFP
Photo/John THYS)

The EU officially launched free trade talks with Australia and New Zealand on Tuesday, part of Europe's desire to promote free trade deals against the increasingly protectionist stance of the United States.

The pursuit of the deals also sends a challenge to Britain, which has made deepened links with its Commonwealth partners a priority for its post-Brexit future.

"Today's decision to open trade talks with Australia and New Zealand is... a reminder to the world of the EU's commitment to openness, free trade and global cooperation," said Emil Karanikolov, minister of economy of Bulgaria, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

The EU underlined that the trade deals would put the emphasis on industrial and manufacturing sectors, and not agriculture, with fears high in Europe that meat and dairy products could pour in from the southern hemisphere.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (L) and French President Emmanuel 

Macron arrive for a joint news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris on 

April 16, 2018 (AFP Photo/CHARLES PLATIAU)

"The mandates do not envisage full liberalisation of trade in agricultural products, which are foreseen as benefiting from specific treatment," an EU statement said.

The EU's top trade official Cecilia Malmstrom welcomed the mandates adding that the deals would be "win-win" for both sides.

"Starting these talks between likeminded partners sends a strong signal at a time where many are taking the easy road of protectionism," she added.

The decision to launch the talks was taken at a meeting where EU trade ministers were also set to discuss the ongoing trade row over with the US administration.

EU vows to block blow of US Iran sanctions

Yahoo – AFP, Danny Kemp with Dana Rysmukhamedova in Astana, May 17, 2018

Iran once again faces US sanctions after Donald Trump's shock decision to quit
the nuclear deal (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

The EU said Thursday it will begin moves to block the effect of US sanctions on Iran as efforts to preserve the nuclear deal with Tehran deepened a transatlantic rift.

The decision came as Russia and China took some of their most concrete moves yet to extend their economic influence in Iran, in the face of renewed US efforts to choke off Tehran.

US President Donald Trump last week controversially pulled Washington out of the 2015 international deal with Iran that placed limits on its nuclear programme in return for easing economic sanctions.

European companies that invested in Iran after the deal are already taking fright, with French energy giant Total warning it could pull out, and Danish shipping giant Maersk and German insurer Allianz also saying they plan to wind down activities there.

After EU leaders discussed Iran at a meeting in Bulgaria, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said the bloc would start measures on Friday to ease the effect of the US sanctions on European companies.

"We will begin the 'blocking statute' process, which aims to neutralise the extraterritorial effects of US sanctions in the EU. We must do it and we will do it tomorrow morning at 10:30," Juncker said at the summit in Sofia.

The "blocking statute" is a 1996 regulation originally created to get around Washington's trade embargo on Cuba, which prohibits EU companies and courts from complying with specific foreign sanction laws, and says no foreign court judgments based on these laws have any effect in the European Union.

However, the Cuba row was settled politically, so the blocking regulation's effectiveness was never put to the test, and its value may lie more as a bargaining chip with Washington.

'It's not a joke'

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that one reason for the efforts to prop up the Iran deal is "so that our businesses can remain" in Iran.

The EU leaders pledged at the meeting to keep a united front against Trump, whose decisions to pull out of the Iran deal and to impose trade tariffs on Europe have triggered the worst transatlantic crisis since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

EU President Donald Tusk renewed attacks on Trump at the summit Thursday, suggesting that the US administration was now as unpredictable as Iran's regime.

"The real geopolitical problem is not when you have an unpredictable opponent or enemy, the problem is if your closest friend is unpredictable. It's not a joke now," Tusk told a news conference with Juncker.

Tusk on Wednesday had slammed Trump's "capricious assertiveness", comparing him to Europe's traditional adversaries Russia and China, and saying Trump's approach had left the EU with "no illusions" that it could rely on anyone else.

China, Russia and EU members Britain, France and Germany were also signatories of the Iran nuclear accord, and have said they will stick to the deal if Tehran respects its terms.

Beijing and Moscow have also stepped up efforts to save the deal.

On Thursday, a Russian-led trade bloc signed an interim trade deal with Iran and signalled plans to negotiate a free trade zone.

In the Kazakh capital Astana, the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union trade bloc signed an interim trade deal with Iran that lowers tariffs on hundreds of goods.

Russian firms have less to lose from bucking US sanctions. Many major Russian companies are already operating under tightening US sanctions over Moscow's seizure of Crimea and its role in the Ukraine crisis.

'Reinforce China'

Meanwhile, Iran's oil minister said that Chinese state-owned oil company CNPC was ready to replace Total on a major gas field project in Iran.

Beijing also signalled that it intends to continue "normal and transparent practical cooperation with Iran".

The US says its sanctions apply to any transactions that are conducted in dollars, which are used in most international transactions, in particular in trading of crude oil.

But China has for years been working to increase trade using its currency and in March a yuan-denominated oil contract was launched in Shanghai.

Trump's withdrawal from the deal is now likely to boost China's influence in the region, a European diplomatic source warned.

"The Iran issue will probably reinforce China in the region, because the European businesses that can't take on the cost of difficulties on their American markets will leave an important gap for a power that seems to have no problem with taking their place," the source said.

Britain, EU in historic Brexit deal, but tough talks still ahead

Yahoo – AFP, Damon WAKE, December 8, 2017

British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker met as the UK and EU reached a breakthrough on
Brexit talks (AFP Photo/EMMANUEL DUNAND)

Brussels (AFP) - Britain and the European Union reached a historic deal on Brexit divorce terms on Friday, but Brussels swiftly warned that even harder talks lie ahead on a future relationship after the split.

British Prime Minister Theresa May rushed to Brussels for early morning talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to clinch the breakthrough.

The European Commission announced that it judged "sufficient progress" had been made after Britain agreed to keep the Irish border open, pay a 40-45 billion-euro divorce bill and protect expats' rights.

But EU President Donald Tusk -- who will recommend to leaders at a summit next week to open trade and transition talks -- warned that the toughest task was to come.

"Let us remember that the most difficult challenge is still ahead. We all know that breaking up is hard but breaking up and building a new relation is much harder," Tusk said.

Negotiators worked through the night to seal an agreement after the EU set a deadline of Sunday.

May said the key part of the agreement was to ensure there would be no return of checkpoints on the frontier between British-ruled Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after March 29, 2019, the date Britain is to leave the bloc.

"In Northern Ireland we will guarantee there will be no hard border," she told a press conference with Juncker.

The rights of EU citizens in Britain will be "enshrined in UK law and enforced 

by British courts", May said (AFP Photo/Gillian HANDYSIDE)

Northern Ireland 'alignment'

Northern Irish unionists who prop up May's minority Conservative government scuppered a possible deal on Monday with their fierce opposition to wording they felt would divide the North from the rest of the UK.

The deal commits both sides to respect the 1998 Good Friday agreement, which ended decades of violence between nationalists who want a united Ireland and Northern Ireland unionists loyal to Britain.

Under the agreement, London will try to find a way to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland "through the overall EU-UK relationship" but if this cannot be achieved, Britain will keep "full alignment" with the EU single market and customs union rules that are crucial to the Good Friday Agreement.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar welcomed the deal, saying his government had "achieved all that we set out to achieve".

On its divorce bill, previously the most contentious issue, Downing Street said Britain had agreed to pay a settlement of between 35 billion and 39 billion pounds (40 billion to 45 billion euros).

The welfare and social rights of some 3.7 million European citizens living in the UK after Brexit are protected in the deal -- and for eight years after Brexit it gives them recourse to the EU's top court if they feel they are being treated unfairly.

However, the3million, an advocacy group for expats living in Britain, said the deal still leaves people in uncertainty.

The breakthrough was given a cautious welcome around Europe, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman calling it a "step forward" and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian saying "common sense" had prevailed.

UK business leaders breathed a sigh of relief, with Josh Hardie, deputy director general of the CBI business lobby saying it opened the door to an accord on trade, the "true prize".

There will be no hard border with Ireland, Britain and the EU have agreed 

(AFP Photo/Gillian HANDYSIDE)

European markets were up and the pound briefly topped $1.35 on the news, though analysts said with difficult trade talks still to come, it was too early to start popping corks.

Tusk warned that with October 2018 set as a deadline for settling a final withdrawal agreement, there was "de facto less than a year" for trade talks -- and it has taken a year and a half since Britain's June 2016 Brexit referendum just to reach Friday's accord.

Senior members of the European Parliament -- which will have to give its approval of the final agreement -- said they were happy with Friday's accord and would vote on it on Wednesday.

Former Polish premier Tusk, who deals with EU leaders, released nine draft guidelines on future relations so member states could approve them for next week's summit.

He said he would propose the "immediate" opening of talks on a transition period, which Britain has estimated at around two years, but warned Britain would have to "respect the whole of EU law, including new law" during that period -- and would have no say in its drafting.

That -- and the continued influence of the European Court of Justice -- is set to infuriate ardent Brexit supporters, including some in May's Conservative party, who have argued for Britain to walk away from the talks with no deal rather than compromise on sovereignty and the financial bill.

Canada model for trade

Tusk called for more clarity from Britain on what kind of trade relationship it wants, but the bloc's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said London had left little room for manoeuvre.

He said Britain's insistence on leaving the single market and customs union gave the EU no choice but to work on a post-Brexit free trade agreement modelled on the bloc's deal with Canada.

"It's not us, it's our British friends who are giving these red lines which close certain doors," Barnier said.