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Barnier Sticks to His Brexit Guns, Warns U.K. Against Dumping

  • De-regulation would put future trade pact at risk, he says
  • EU’s Brexit negotiator speaks at Munich Security Conference
Michel Barnier

Michel Barnier

Photographer: Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg

European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier reiterated that the U.K.’s red lines effectively exclude the prospect of a preferential relationship with the bloc after their separation, while warning that British de-regulation would put a future trade accord at risk.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, the Frenchman showed participants his Stairway to Brexit chart, as he argued how the British government’s positions on trade, customs and regulatory independence “close the door” to a relationship modeled after the EU’s ties with Norway, Switzerland or Turkey. Even a standard free-trade agreement could be voted down by national parliaments in the EU if the U.K. opts to de-regulate its labor, environmental or health laws, Barnier said.