Sobering reality, courtesy of
Business Insider Deutschland of 10 March 2018 in respect of Open Skies/Air Service Agreements.
However, two events this week show that it (Trade Deals) will not be anywhere near as easy as Brexiteers had promised. The first was
Trump's decision to impose new tariffs on trade with Europe. The second is an alarming new row over Britain's rights to fly across the Atlantic.
The row centres around attempts to keep planes flying across the Atlantic after Brexit. As things stand, Britain is set to leave the EU-US 'Open skies treaty' when it leaves the EU. In order to ensure planes can still fly, Britain will need to negotiate a replacement agreement with the US.
However, according to an
explosive FT report this week, the US offered Britain in January a far worse "open skies" deal after Brexit than it currently has as an EU member. According to their report, accepting such a deal could seriously damage the flying rights of major UK airlines and — in the event of failure — see flights grounded between the two countries.
Further.
The row over Open Skies is just one example of the huge and complex difficulties that Britain faces in renegotiating its relationship with the world after Brexit.
The scale of the task is difficult to comprehend. The UK reportedly
needs to renegotiate at least 759 other treaties with 168 countries before it leaves the EU on everything from transport, to fish, to farming. And while some of these negotiations will be relatively straightforward and end up in Britain's favour, many others will not.
With just over a year to go until Britain leaves, some who campaigned for Brexit have still failed to face the scale of the task ahead. In the past week, that reality has finally started to become clear.