- Summary:
- GBPUSD falls as UK PM Boris Johnson meets European Commission President Juncker and Luxembourg PM Bettel to try to work out new Brexit deal.
GBPUSD was trading slightly lower in early New York trading as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met key EU officials to work out a new Brexit deal.
The UK PM had a lunch meeting with the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and also with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel. While PM Johnson hinted that good progress was made for a new Brexit deal, the Luxembourg PM stated that the EU would not provide another Brexit extension “just for the sake of another extension.” Bettel also said that “the Brexit deal is the only solution on the table that meets all the criteria.” Bettel also noted that concretely, legally operative alternatives to the Irish backstop needed to be put forward by the deadline date of October 31 and that so far the UK had provided none.
New Brexit Deal A Hard Sell
Bettel’s view seems to have been re-echoed in the statement released following the lunch meeting between Juncker and Johnson.
“President Juncker underlined the Commission’s continued willingness and openness to examine whether such proposals meet the objectives of the backstop. Such proposals have not yet been made,” the European Commission’s statement read.
This underscores the lack of progress that has been made so far with the problematic backstop in the Withdrawal Agreement. This has limited further upside for the British Pound, with the GBPUSD trading 90 pips lower from intraday highs. GBPUSD is currently trading at 1.2403 as at the time of writing and is inching towards support at S1 level of the pivot indicator at 1.2381.