UK and the EU Sign Historic Brexit Agreement

The European Union and UK have reached a post-Brexit trade agreement after months of tense negotiations.

"Deal is done," read the statement from Downing Street on Thursday afternoon -- swiftly followed by confirmation from EU in Brussels.

Speaking shortly after the announcement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the agreement was a "good deal".   The British parliament voted for an EU-UK trade deal to avert the feared prospect of a cliff-edge no-deal Brexit in less than two days' time.   Ambassadors from all EU member states on Tuesday gave a green light to the provisional application of the trade agreement from January 1 by making the pact official. That allowed European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel to sign off on the deal early on Wednesday morning.
The arrangements are provisional in nature because the European Parliament must still give its approval to the deal early next year.   British PM Johnson claimed that the UK had achieved a "Canada-style" trade deal worth £660 billion (US 3 billion) and addressed the agreement on fisheries -- a key point of contention in the negotiations -- saying that the UK had taken back "full control" of its waters. However many details have yet to be clarified, especially fisheries.