U.K., EU Blame Each Other as Trade Talks Make Slow Progress
- Barnier says negotiations haven’t moved enough to enter tunnel
- U.K. is ‘ready and willing’ to leave without a trade accord
Photographer: Virginia Mayo/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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U.K. and European Union officials blamed each other for failing to compromise as they made little apparent progress toward a trade accord ahead of a key deadline this week.
Speaking to a meeting of EU European affairs ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday, the bloc’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said the talks haven’t sufficiently advanced for them to enter the so-called tunnel, the intensive final phase, according to officials close to the discussion.