EU warns UK of ‘zero’ environmental dumping in free trade deal

The European Commission’s top Brexit official has said the UK will only be able to trade freely with the EU if it commits to “zero dumping” on environmental standards.

Speaking to a group of newspapers on Tuesday, Michel Barnier, who has led the Brexit negotiations for the Commission, restated the EU’s requirement for high regulatory standards in exchange for good access to the bloc’s internal market. 

“Access to our markets will be proportional to the commitments taken to the common rules,” he is quoted as saying in British newspaper the Guardian. “The agreement we are ready to discuss is zero tariffs, zero quotas, zero dumping.”