Under the EU plan, goods could be tracked using barcodes on shipping containers under "trusted-trader" schemes administered by registered companies, the Times reported.

Reuters reported on Sept. 12 that EU officials were working on a sensitive Irish protocol to the draft Brexit treaty with Britain, as part of what Barnier has called efforts to "de-dramatise" the issue and get a deal.

"De-dramatise" is the buzz word in Irish press. I think it means, Tory gov has no intention to co-operate with EU gov in its own withdrawal from the EU market.

The term denotes a raft of affronts by EU gov officials to Tory gov's concept of a border per se. At the moment, EU negotiators' plan is to persuade UK customs inspectors even to "check" the origin and destination of goods landed at the Big Island's ports (air, sea) for tariff remit. IF Tory gov will commit to customs surveillance, EU gov will reconsider joint supervision at Big Island ports.

Bar code labels and scans: High Tech Manifests

MEP Dianne Dodds UK, DUP) was heard to say,

"Suggestions that the EU is now considering technology-based solutions are a positive if belated development ... However, this will become null and void if based only on the EU goal of ensuring Northern Ireland remains in a common regulatory and customs areas inside the EU.

"Equally we are unconvinced by arguments which suggest that a technological border in the Irish Sea is more deliverable than on the land border between Northern Ireland [UK] and the Irish Republic [EU]."

archived
geographical indications

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

While no explicit link has yet been made between Ireland's resistance to a digital tax and the EU's efforts to avoid a hard border after Brexit, solidarity doesn't come for free, according to the European official, who asked not to be identified because they aren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The official's comments are the first sign that at least some nations expect a price to be extracted for the bloc's commitments to Ireland in the Brexit process.

Theresa May's fragile Brexit truce is unlikely to last for long | FT - March 2018 |

After months of obfuscation, the British government has come up with a vision for Brexit. Theresa May's government has decided on its preferred "end state" with the EU -- the longer-term relationship for once the UK has formally left the bloc and the transition phase is over. EU negotiators have long complained they do not know what Britain wants. Now they have an answer: a Canada-style trade deal with "managed divergence" in some areas.

Image credit: FT

By attempting to separate the British economy into sectors where regulations would remain the same, those where it desires some latitude for change and those where it wishes to diverge entirely, the government appears to have gone cherry-picking. Yet this is precisely what the EU27 has consistently said cannot be allowed after a country leaves the bloc. The three-baskets approach would also be the first ever trade deal designed to achieve divergence.

EU is launching a "veiled power grab" on Irish corporate tax revenue ... a trade-off in Brexit negotiations?

○ Apple pays over the €14.3bn due to Ireland - but the minister again denies that it's owed
○ Barnier adopts conciliatory tone over Ireland | FT - July 20, 2018 |

Global Warming - distance between America and Europe is steadily increasing.

UK plans for trade and Irish border need to be reworked, says Tusk | The Guardian |

Donald Tusk has said that Theresa May's Chequers proposals for dealing with the Irish border and future trade relations after Brexit will need to be "reworked and further negotiated" in a sign of how far the UK and EU are from resolving the most fraught issues in the divorce talks.

Opening the EU summit in Salzburg, Tusk, the European council president, said the Brexit talks were entering a decisive phase and that "various scenarios" were still possible - a clear hint that no-deal remained a possibility if no acceptable resolution to the negotiations could be reached.

...  in a blow to the British prime minister the EU leader said that was not the case "on other issues, such as the Irish question, or the framework for economic co-operation, where the UK proposals will need to be reworked and further negotiated".

Tusk confirmed there would be a special European summit in November, which is intended to be when Brexit negotiations end, and tried to add a note of urgency in conclusion, saying: "There is more hope but there is surely less and less time, every day left we must use for talks."

At the Salzburg summit May will reject the revised Irish backstop border proposals of Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, because the EU is still insisting on customs checks in the Irish Sea if the two sides cannot strike a free trade agreement after Brexit.

In Salzburg, the prime minister will also hold bilateral meetings on Thursday with the Tusk, and the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, as she seeks to end the impasse over the future of the UK's only land border.

○ 'Both sides need to compromise' on Brexit, says EU summit host- Politics live

#DavidDavis: #May won't get #Chequers plan through #parliament (_link)

— Mark Alexander (@markalexander_1) September 19, 2018

"If they do a deal like that, we would be dealing
with the European Union instead of dealing with
the U.K., so it will probably kill the deal."
                                President Donald Trump

Trump: soft Brexit will 'kill' UK's chances of US trade deal  

Absent leadership - Theresa May in the political squeeze:
"A lady is not for turning ..."

○ Donald Trump holds hands with Theresa May in awkward public display of affection

Blah, blah, blah ...

Trump suggests US and UK could strike a 'tremendous deal' on trade after Brexit | CNBC - July 15, 2018  |

With Brexit negotiations having hit rough shoals, May is under pressure to deliver on the 2016 vote to extricate the U.K. from the 28-member economic bloc.

"We would make a tremendously big deal" with Britain, Trump said in the interview, published by the Daily Mail, apparently trying to smooth over a firestorm created ahead of his visit.

"Oh I think we're going to have a great trade deal, I've really no doubt about it," Trump said in the interview. "We're going to get it. I said [to Theresa May], "Make sure you have a carve out, you have to have a carve out" - where no matter what happens they have the right to make a deal with the United States."

Barack Obama: As your friend, let me say that the EU makes Britain even greater | The Telegraph - Apr. 23, 2016 |

Nearly 80 years later, the United Kingdom remains a friend and ally to the United States like no other. Our special relationship was forged as we spilt blood together on the battlefield. It was fortified as we built and sustained the architecture for advancing stability and prosperity in Europe, and our democratic values around the globe. From the ashes of war, those who came before us had the foresight to create the international institutions and initiatives to sustain a prosperous peace: the United Nations and NATO; Bretton Woods, the Marshall Plan, and the European Union. Their efforts provided a foundation for democracy, open markets, and the rule of law, while underwriting more than seven decades of relative peace and prosperity in Europe.

○ Obama officials 'mocked Britain in secret and treated "special relationship" as a joke' | The Independent |
○ Donald Trump returns Winston Churchill's bust to the Oval Office

Global Warming - distance between America and Europe is steadily increasing.