Lionel Laurent, Columnist

You Can’t Blame the EU for Not Trusting Boris Johnson

The U.K. shouldn’t be “surprised” or “disappointed” that the Europeans are sticking to their Brexit stance.

October 16, 2020 at 6:28 AM UTC

Updated on

October 16, 2020 at 11:51 AM UTC

Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist writing about the future of money and the future of Europe. Previously, he was a reporter for Reuters and Forbes.

This is about more than just fish.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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This is not the Brexit endgame Boris Johnson expected.

Thursday was supposed to be the U.K. prime minister’s make-or-break moment for reaching a trade deal with the European Union before the transition period ends on Dec. 31. Without an agreement by then, both sides should just “move on,” he said last month. It was part of a hardball strategy that also involved a proposed law that set the U.K. on course to breach the Brexit departure terms it agreed to barely a year ago.