Window for Brexit trade deal cut to days

After a face-to-face meeting this week between the leaders of the United Kingdom and European Union, a decision on whether a free-trade deal will be inked must now be made in a matter of days.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met in person after their negotiating teams wrangled for months over a potential deal.

But while the more optimistic onlookers might have hoped for a breakthrough, the pair could only set Sunday as a deadline for a decision on whether a deal is possible to ensure tariff-free trade can continue, now that the UK has left the bloc.

While the alternative, reverting to trading under World Trade Organization rules, would cause economic damage to both sides as well as job losses and delays, London and Brussels have bickered over the details of a deal.

Johnson and von der Leyen spoke for three hours in Brussels on Wednesday evening before agreeing the deadline. Unusually for such an encounter, they did not release a joint statement.

An unnamed UK government official told the Financial Times "very large gaps remain between the two sides". A Johnson insider told the paper there had not been "much of a glimmer of progress" during the talks.

Johnson's counterpart tweeted they had "a lively and interesting discussion" during which they "gained a clear understanding of each other's positions" but she too said they remained far apart.

"We agreed that the teams should immediately reconvene to try to resolve these essential issues," von der Leyen said. "We will come to a decision by the end of the weekend."

Talks between the nation and the bloc that have continued ever since the UK withdrew its membership on Jan 31 have been bogged down in areas including the preferred mechanism for policing a deal, the degree of access EU fishing boats should have to UK waters, and the best way to ensure a level playing field for all businesses.

An agreement looked more likely on Tuesday, when the two sides agreed on how to reinstate a border on the island of Ireland without inflaming sectarian tension.

But Dominic Raab, the UK's foreign secretary, said on Radio 4's Today program on Thursday a deal remained a long way off. "I think it's a moment of finality ... We would much prefer a deal, no stone is being left unturned," he insisted.

Von der Leyen was set to brief EU leaders on Thursday.

Talks between the UK's chief negotiator, David Frost, and his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, were also set to resume.

The EU is the UK's largest trading partner. In 2019, Britain exported products worth 294 billion pounds ($391 billion) to the bloc, around 43 percent of its total exports.