The Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Abstract

Once the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) was finalised and ratified, the EU and the UK shifted their focus to the next phase of the Brexit process, namely negotiations on arrangements governing their future relationship. This was a high stakes exercise for both sides with consequences for their economies, citizens, politics, businesses and neighbourly relations. The chapter begins by outlining the starting positions of both parties and proceeds to analyse the evolution of the talks over the eleven month transition period. The negotiations took off to a very slow start and suffered the disruption of Covid-19 but the pace quickened in autumn 2020 culminating in agreement on a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) by the end of December. This enabled the UK to end the transition period with a deal on its future relations with the EU.