EU ready to play ball on Brexit, offer UK a trade deal - Bloomberg

As reported by Bloomberg, the European Union's Brexit negotiation team is set to hand UK Prime Minister Theresa May the outline of a potential trade deal, but the free-trade agreement may fall well short of not only PM May's demands, but demands being made within the UK's Eurosceptic parliament.

Key highlights

The EU's proposed trade deal will encompass roughly 30-40% of PM May's current Chequers proposals, undercutting May's targets for free trade and security post-Brexit.

Head EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will be delivering his proposed outline to EU ambassadors on Wednesday, and it is expected that the document will be as vague and positively-worded as possible in order to aide PM May in selling the deal back home, where hard-line Brexiteers within the UK parliament are seen as a major roadblock to getting any trade deals finalized as the two sides race to get a plan hammered out by next month.

"The EU’s draft on how Britain and the bloc will trade in future will probably run to fewer than 10 pages, three diplomats said, leaving negotiations for the full-blown trade deal to take place after the U.K. leaves in the bloc in March. U.K. officials say it will be much longer. While it falls short of what May wants, it will be broader and deeper than any FTA the EU has struck with other countries and will include “add-ons.” - Bloomberg