Cable Forum - View Single Post - UK & EU Agree Post-Brexit Trade Deal

**Chris** · 08-12-2020, 13:27

Er no, invoking North Korea isn’t a good question. AFAIK Peston is sympathetic towards Brexit however the way he paints it here, he sounds like he’s in the so-called “soft Brexit” (remember that?) EFTA camp.

No nation exists in a sovereign vacuum, not even North Korea, because it relies on its coal trade with China and that is what ultimately keeps Kim on a leash (just not America’s leash, which is most of the problem as far as the West is concerned).

However there is a common sense basic understanding of national sovereignty that is not undermined by a State’s free choice to sign a treaty with another. There are also the sorts of treaties that link fundamentally unconnected considerations - such as, for example, access to fishing waters and general agreement on trade tariffs - in a way that seriously limits a state’s agency and the prospect of future renegotiation. The EU is itself a spider’s web of precisely these sorts of treaties, and its negotiating aim throughout has been to keep the UK as closely tied to as much of it as possible.

After 2 rapid general elections the Tory party finally worked out that delivering Brexit meant decoupling the UK from any EU treaty that would be more onerous to us than anything Canada might have agreed to. It is highly unlikely that anything in the Canada-EU trade agreement is going to have any significant impact on Canada’s ability to manage its domestic regulatory regime as it sees fit. That’s something the EU isn’t prepared to tolerate in the UK’s case and that’s why questions of sovereignty are still front and centre at such a late stage.

08-12-2020, 13:27	#4795
Chris Trollsplatter Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North of Watford Services: Humane elimination of all common Internet pests Posts: 38,204	Re: Brexit-Transitional Period Ends 31/12/20 Er no, invoking North Korea isn’t a good question. AFAIK Peston is sympathetic towards Brexit however the way he paints it here, he sounds like he’s in the so-called “soft Brexit” (remember that?) EFTA camp. No nation exists in a sovereign vacuum, not even North Korea, because it relies on its coal trade with China and that is what ultimately keeps Kim on a leash (just not America’s leash, which is most of the problem as far as the West is concerned). However there is a common sense basic understanding of national sovereignty that is not undermined by a State’s free choice to sign a treaty with another. There are also the sorts of treaties that link fundamentally unconnected considerations - such as, for example, access to fishing waters and general agreement on trade tariffs - in a way that seriously limits a state’s agency and the prospect of future renegotiation. The EU is itself a spider’s web of precisely these sorts of treaties, and its negotiating aim throughout has been to keep the UK as closely tied to as much of it as possible. After 2 rapid general elections the Tory party finally worked out that delivering Brexit meant decoupling the UK from any EU treaty that would be more onerous to us than anything Canada might have agreed to. It is highly unlikely that anything in the Canada-EU trade agreement is going to have any significant impact on Canada’s ability to manage its domestic regulatory regime as it sees fit. That’s something the EU isn’t prepared to tolerate in the UK’s case and that’s why questions of sovereignty are still front and centre at such a late stage.