European Interest

Britain says financial services should be added to EU trade deal

Flickr/Tiocfaidh ár lá 1916/CC BY-ND 2.0
“We are looking at the full sweep of economic cooperation that currently exists and determining how that can be maintained with the minimum additional barriers or friction,” Brexit minister David Davis wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

Brexit minister David Davis said on January 2 that Britain wants to include financial services in a trade deal with the European Union.

Davis said any deal that left finance out would be “cherry picking”, after the EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier cast doubt on the inclusion of financial services in a free-trade deal, reported the Reuters news agency.

“We are looking at the full sweep of economic cooperation that currently exists and determining how that can be maintained with the minimum additional barriers or friction,” Davis wrote in the Daily Telegraph, adding that the principles of a trade deal in goods could be applied to services too.

“I do not believe the strength of this cooperation needs change because we leaving the European Union, so long as it is understood that this involves working together, not simply rule taking. These principles can be applied to services trade too.”

Explore more