Businesses plead for Brexit deal as trade talks remain stuck

LONDON (AP) — British trucking firms, supermarkets and other businesses on Friday implored the government to strike a last-minute trade deal with the European Union, as the two sides’ leaders told their citizens to brace for New Year upheaval in the U.K.-EU trading relationship.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said there is a “strong possibility” that negotiations on a new economic relationship to take effect Jan. 1 will fail. Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have set a Sunday deadline to decide whether to keep talking or prepare for a no-deal break.

“We have not yet found the solutions to bridge our differences,” von der Leyen said Friday at an EU summit in Brussels. “We will decide on Sunday whether we have the conditions for an agreement or not.”

Either way, she said, “in less than three weeks, it will be new beginnings for old friends.”

Britain left the EU on Jan. 31 but has continued to follow the bloc’s rules during a transition period that lasts until the end of the year. Months of talks on a future trade deal have failed to bridge the gaps on three issues — fishing rights, fair-competition rules and the governance of future disputes.

While both sides want a deal, they have fundamentally different views of what it entails. The EU fears Britain will slash social and environmental standards and pump state money into U.K. industries, becoming a low-regulation economic rival on the bloc’s doorstep, so is demanding strict “level playing field” guarantees in exchange for access to its markets.

The U.K. government claims the EU is trying to bind Britain to the bloc’s rules indefinitely, rather than treating it as an independent nation.

British Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said Friday that a...