This archive report was first published on 1 November 2021.
France's threat to impose trade reprisals on the UK has sparked a heated dispute over fishing rights. The row began when France demanded that the UK grant licenses to French fishing boats to fish in British waters, but the UK refused, citing the terms of the Brexit deal.
According to the Brexit deal, boats should only be granted licenses if evidence is presented that they fished in the waters before 2016. Jersey's Minister for External Relations, Ian Gorst, said that his officials had followed the terms of the deal and had been 'as engaging and as reasonable as possible' in their dealings with the French.
However, France has vowed to impose trade reprisals on the UK if it doesn't back down. Paris has threatened to ban UK boats from unloading their catches at French ports from Tuesday and impose checks on all products brought to France from Britain.
Britain's Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, has vowed to take action if France goes ahead with its plans. She said that the French had made 'completely unreasonable threats' and that the UK would use the mechanisms of its trade agreement with the EU to take action.
President Emmanuel Macron has given the UK an ultimatum, saying that Britain must give ground in the dispute or France will trigger trade reprisals on Tuesday. He said, “The ball is in Britain’s court.”
Britain's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has complained to EU chief Ursula Von Der Leyen that French threats over fishing were “completely unjustified” and has threatened to invoke the Brexit dispute tool for the first time.
