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Originally Posted by 1andrew1
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Yup. It should have been. However the EU assumed we would bargain for extremely extensive single market engagement and lined up its demands in anticipation of that. In the event Britain has aimed for a far more modest trade deal, akin to that arranged with Canada. However the EU appears not to have recognised that if they give away less they get less in return.
Their demands for continuing regulatory alignment are absurd, as is their expectation that we would cede sovereignty over our maritime exclusive economic area. So yes, Liam Fox was absolutely right in 2017. It *should* have been easy. The EU has signed trade deals with countries that are not, and never will be, in any way aligned with its rule book.
There’s no real mystery as to why it hasn’t worked out as far as the EU is concerned - it simply lacks the philosophical ability to accommodate the idea that any country would choose to walk away from its grand unifying project. The UK has upended some quasi-religious assumptions on the continent and it simply doesn’t compute. The only real mystery is why anyone on this side of the channel is still blind to it.