UK, EU at a stalemate on Brexit

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday said Brexit negotiations remain “at an impasse” because the European Union rejected her proposals without providing any alternatives. In a Thursday meeting in Austria, European Council President Donald Tusk said May’s Brexit plan would not work. French President Emmanuel Macron also called pro-Brexit politicians liars for not being honest about the costs of exiting the bloc.

“It’s not acceptable to simply reject the other side’s proposals without a detailed explanation and counterproposals,” May said. “So now we need to hear from the EU what the real issues are, what their alternative is, so that we can discuss them.” The two major disagreements in the negotiations remain May’s plan to retain free trade with the EU in goods but not services and her plan to keep the border open between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and Ireland, which is part of the EU. Following May’s comments, the British pound fell 1.5 percent against the U.S. dollar. The U.K. is slated to exit the EU by March 2019.