After nearly three years of political divisions and bitter disputes, which saw two prime ministers being pushed from office and a divisive general election last month, the UK is finally expected to quit the European Union on January 31.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has signed the EU Withdrawal Agreement which has received royal assent from the Queen and has become law. The bill now needs to be passed by EU parliament- a mere formality- before the UK plans to leave.
The British prime minister hailed the signing of the agreement as a “fantastic moment” and urged all to move forward as one country to focus on providing better services, greater opportunities, and building new relations with the EU along with other international agreements after years of wrangling on Brexit.
Once Brexit goes into effect, the UK will enter a transition period that shall end in December 2020. During this time, it will attempt to sign trade deals with the regional bloc. The deadline has been considered as too unrealistic but this will be the first priority for the UK government, to receive as much access as possible for its goods and services to the EU. If no trade deal is agreed, then the UK faces the possibility of tariffs and other barriers on its exports to the EU.
This is a historic moment as the UK ends its 46-year membership with the EU. Many citizens will have to adjust to new rules in the post-Brexit scenario. There will be changes to immigration policies, businesses operating in Europe, and even roaming charges for mobile phones. Many have expressed fears over the outflow of money and the UK economy could contract.
Since UK would now be a sovereign country, it will also able to sign new trade deals with other countries with no existing EU deals such as the United States. Both have expressed willingness to negotiate a trade deal this year. This is hampered by a tech tax which the UK wants to levy on revenues of American social media sites and search engines like Facebook and Google which has irked Washington.
Irrespective of how business relations with USA pan out, UK PM Johnson will be remembered as the populist British leader who ended the decades-old relation with the EU. Alas, the Brexit saga is now finally over as globalization takes a backseat to growing nationalism.
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