UK leader: EU must make fundamental change in Brexit talks

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the U.K. must prepare for a no-deal break with the European Union unless there is a fundamental change of position from the bloc.

Johnson says the EU is refusing to give Britain a trade deal like the one it has with Canada, which the U.K. is seeking.

Johnson was responding to EU leaders, who said at a Brussels summit that the U.K. needs to shift its positions to make an agreement possible.

The U.K. had threatened to walk away from the talks if a deal was not struck by the EU summit that ends Friday.

Johnson didnt go that far, but said the EU seemed to have abandoned the idea of a deal. He said Britain would listen if there was a fundamental change of approach from Brussels.

Britain officially left the EU on Jan. 31 but remains part of its economic structures until Dec. 31. After that it needs a new trade agreement or will face tariffs and other economic barriers with the EU, its biggest trading partner.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)