Brexit Bulletin: Uniquely Vulnerable

(Bloomberg) --

What’s Happening? Government attention is focused on the coronavirus, but the clock is still ticking down on Brexit.

Understandably, Brexit is way down the list of everyone’s priorities right now. With the death toll from Covid-19 climbing daily, governments are racing to contain the virus and limit the economic damage.

British companies are uniquely vulnerable to the latter. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak may be pumping staggering amounts of money into the economy—but U.K. businesses had already been pitched into a period of turmoil because of Brexit, as Jill Ward and David Goodman report.

Those firms still have no clarity about what Britain’s future trading relationship with the EU will actually look like. With the country set to crash out of its post-Brexit transition period at the end of this year unless a trade deal is reached by then, the negotiations have been paralyzed by the virus.

Britain hopes to restart formal talks this month after face-to-face meetings were abandoned after just one round and chief negotiators on both sides had to self-isolate.

In public at least, the U.K. insists it wants to press on. Sunak told reporters on Wednesday that the U.K. is “just” negotiating the terms of its future trading relationship with the EU, and is committed to the timetable.

Most business leaders expect, and many would prefer, Downing Street to seek a delay. After all, ministers on both sides of the channel have only the bandwidth to deal with one far more pressing crisis.

Beyond Brexit

• The IMF sees the world heading to its worst recession since the Great Depression.
• The coronavirus may “reactivate” in patients cured of Covid-19, South Korea said.
• Horror at Spain’s escalating death toll has turned into anger at the prime minister.
• Hand sanitizer will be hard to find for a long, long time.
• The CEO of video-chat app Zoom is tired of all those Zoom calls.
• The ultra-rich are taking out loans on their mansions to access cash.

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