In the last business day before the Christmas weekend, the markets are abuzz about Brexit once more.
Any moment now an announcement is expected about a trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union. Despite a lot of conflicting opinions, the negotiators from both sides stayed committed to hashing out a deal until the last minute. By all indications, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson are supposed to reveal the deal by the end of the day, after an early morning call between them was postponed.
The deal will most probably not resolve every single issue either the EU or the UK had. However, both sides have spoken about how a deal is in any way better than reverting to WTO rules come January 1.
But there is a reason why experts stated multiple times that the deadline for Brexit is important. With a deal so late in December, the UK will have to recall Parliament from its end-of-the-year recess in order to vote on the deal, most probably on December 30.
The EU Parliament will have a bigger issue coming together on such short notice. The deal might have to be ratified by the European Union after New Year’s and applied retrospectively for the days of 2021 preceding the formal approval. This may still cause some disruptions around the holidays.
Meanwhile, the haggling also continues in the United States, where President Trump previously vetoed the nearly $900 billion stimulus bill because he felt the amount set aside for direct payments to households was not enough. The checks, which according to the bill are worth $600, were negotiated down by the Republican Party that Trump represents. Democrats initially wanted higher direct payments.
Naturally, the Democrats jumped on this opportunity immediately and proposed an alternative bill, where direct payments will be $2,000 per person like the President wanted. However, Senate Republicans are not likely to agree to that, considering they spent months opposing it.
This leaves the latest funding bill in question. Not only is it bad for American households, who are under extreme pressure due to the coronavirus pandemic, but there might also be another government shutdown because the bill contains funding for next year.
