Ireland's Varadkar: Very challenging to reach a trade deal with UK by end of the year

The UK is going to officially be leaving the EU on 31 January this week

• We have a short time to reach a new trade deal with the UK
• There will always be a seat at the EU table for the UK

Moving forward, the baseline for what the UK wants to achieve will be a Canada-style agreement but the give and take between the EU's call for a level playing field and the UK's call for ease of access to markets will define the push and pull in trade talks.