ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Trade negotiation between the UK and the EU

Imagine you have some toys and your friend has some toys too. You want to trade some of your toys for some of your friend's toys. But before you can make the trade, you both need to agree on what toys you want to trade and how many of them.

Now imagine that instead of toys, you and your friend are countries called the UK and the EU. The UK wants to sell things like cars, cheese, and clothes to the EU, while the EU wants to sell things like wine, chocolate, and cars to the UK.

But before they can start trading, they need to negotiate. Negotiation means talking to each other and making agreements. They need to agree on things like how much they will charge for their products, how much they will buy from each other, and how they will deal with problems that might come up.

Sometimes negotiation can be difficult because both sides want different things. For example, the UK might want to sell lots of cheese, but the EU might not want to buy very much of it. In that case, they need to find a way to compromise, or find a solution that makes them both happy.

Negotiation between the UK and the EU is important because they have been trading with each other for a long time. If they can't make a deal, it could mean that it will be more difficult and expensive for people in the UK to buy things from the EU, and for people in the EU to buy things from the UK. That could have a big impact on businesses, jobs, and the economy.