On cusp of Brexit trade deal, EU and UK hash out final details
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Britain and the European Union were on the cusp of striking a narrow trade deal on Thursday, swerving away from a chaotic finale to a Brexit split that has shaken the 70-year project to forge European unity from the ruins of World War Two.

While a last-minute deal would avoid the most acrimonious ending to the Brexit divorce, the United Kingdom is heading for a much more distant relationship with its biggest trade partner than almost anyone expected at the time of the 2016 Brexit vote.

Sources in London and Brussels said a deal was close as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a late-night conference call with his senior ministers, and negotiators in Brussels pored over reams of legal trade texts.

There was no official confirmation of a deal but Johnson was expected to hold a news conference on Christmas Eve - just seven days before the UK turns its back on the EU’s single market and customs union at 2300 GMT on Dec. 31.

News that a deal was imminent, first reported by Reuters, triggered a surge in the pound while bond yields rose across the world.