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SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Thursday, pressured as U.S. crude stockpiles surged to their highest levels in almost 17 months amid record production and as economic concerns cast doubt over growth in demand for fuel.

International benchmark Brent futures were at $71.44 per barrel at 0424 GMT, down 29 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $64.28 per barrel, down 33 cents, or 0.5 percent, from their previous settlement.

U.S. crude inventories rose 7 million barrels to 456.6 million barrels in the last week, their highest since November 2017, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

U.S. crude oil production remained at a record 12.2 million barrels per day (bpd), making the United States the world’s biggest oil producer ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia.

There are also concerns that an economic slowdown will soon dent fuel consumption after the International Monetary Fund this week downgraded its global growth forecast to the lowest in a decade.

Despite the surge in U.S. supply and the economic concerns, global oil markets remain tight amid supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), U.S. sanctions on oil exporters Iran and Venezuela, and escalating fighting in Libya.

“(Oil markets will remain tight) as long as Saudi Arabia continues to back the production cut deal as aggressively as it has done so far,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.

Brent and WTI have risen by around 30 and 40 percent respectively since the start of the year.

“Pressure to global supplies continues to mount because of sanctions-linked problems in Iran and Venezuela and rising geopolitical risk in Libya,” said Stephen Innes, head of trading at SPI Asset Management.

Beyond the short-term outlook for oil markets, a lot of attention is on the future of demand amid the rise of alternative fuels for transport.

“We believe global demand has another 10 million barrels bpd of growth, with over half from China,” Bernstein Energy said in a note on Thursday.

Current oil demand stands around 100 million bpd.

Bernstein said it expected oil demand to peak around 2030, but added that “we expect a long plateau rather than a sharp decline” in consumption after that.

“While no industry lasts forever, the age of oil is far from over,” Bernstein said.

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian stocks stepped back from near eight-month highs on Thursday and the dollar eased as cautious European and U.S. central banks reinforced investors’ worries about the slowing global economy and trade protectionism.

Spreadbetters pointed to a subdued start for Europe, with Eurostoxx 50 futures flat while futures for Germany’s Dax and London’s FTSE opened open lower.

Risky assets have been volatile so far this year while bonds have rallied on fears of a recession in the United States and the possibility of a sharper slowdown in other major economies including the euro zone.

Also weighing on sentiment, U.S. President Donald Trump has escalated trade tensions by threatening new tariffs on goods from the European Union, even as the Sino-U.S. trade dispute remains unresolved.

All those risks pulled down Asian equities on Thursday.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.4 percent after four straight days of gains took it to the highest since last August. Japan’s Nikkei reversed early losses to end 0.1 percent higher.

Losses in Asia were led by Chinese shares, with the blue-chip CSI300 index off 1.7 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stumbled 0.7 percent.

Australian shares also lost ground, pressured by political uncertainty after the prime minister called a national election for May 18.

“Traders continue to operate in a ‘wait and watch’ mode as they look for the next opportunity in a cautious market,” said Nick Twidale, Sydney-based analyst at Rakuten Securities Australia. “Two big event risks are now behind us with the ECB and Fed.”

But, Twidale said, investors were still on the lookout for a trigger that would push markets out of their familiar trading ranges.

On Wednesday, the European Central Bank (ECB) kept its loose policy stance and warned that threats to global economic growth remained. The ECB has already pushed back its first post-crisis interest rate hike, and President Mario Draghi raised the prospect of more support for the struggling euro zone economy if its slowdown persisted.

“If, as we expect, growth in the euro-zone continues to disappoint over the coming months, we think that ECB policymakers will adopt an even more accommodative stance,” analysts at Capital Economics wrote in a note.

While easy monetary conditions are generally a boon for equities as investors go hunting for yield, share price performance could take a hit if corporate earnings suffer in a slowing economy.

‘GREAT RETREAT’
Separately, data showed U.S. consumer prices increased by the most in 14 months in March but underlying inflation remained benign against a backdrop of slowing global economic growth.

Minutes from a March 19-20 meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers showed they agreed to be patient about any changes to interest rate policy as they saw the U.S. economy weathering a global slowdown without a recession in the next few years.

In currencies, the British pound held on to gains after European leaders agreed to extend the deadline for UK to leave the union to the end of October, averting a potential crash out of the bloc on Friday with no divorce deal but threatening more months of uncertainty.

Sterling has stayed in a triangle holding pattern between $1.2945 and $1.3380 during the past month or so. It was last at $1.3080.

The dollar index fell for a fourth straight day to 96.933 against a basket of major currencies. The euro was barely changed at $1.1275 while the Japanese yen was a shade weaker at 111.11 per dollar after three days of gains.

In commodities, Brent futures eased 27 cents to $71.46 a barrel. U.S. crude dipped 30 cents to $64.31.

Gold hovered near a two-week top on Thursday at $1,306.97 an ounce.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders gave Britain six more months to leave the bloc, more than Prime Minister Theresa May says she needs but less than many in the bloc wanted, thanks to fierce resistance from France.

The summit deal in Brussels in the early hours of Thursday meant Britain will not crash out on Friday without a treaty to smooth its passage. But it offers little clarity on when, how or even if Brexit will happen, as May struggles to build support in parliament for withdrawal terms agreed with the EU last year.

With German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisting that Britain would not be forced out and that a chaotic no-deal departure must be avoided if at all possible, there was never any real doubt that May would get an extension.

The drama was about its length and conditions.

French President Emmanuel Macron, reprising a role he took last month when May got a first, two-week delay, pushed leaders into hours of debate over dinner as he fought a largely solo campaign to persuade them not to give the British up to another year.

Summit chair Donald Tusk and others argued that obliging May to accept a much longer deadline than the June 30 date she had sought could help swing pro-Brexit hardliners within her own Conservative party behind her deal, fearing a long delay could see the British public turning against a withdrawal altogether.

But Macron, while irritating some peers who saw his stance as Gallic grandstanding, insisted that letting Britain stay in the Union any longer risked undermining the project of European integration that is one of his main policy goals.

The result was a compromise on the date, with a deadline of Oct. 31, for Britain to leave, deal or no deal — on condition that May holds an election on May 23 to return British members to a new European Parliament that convenes in July, and that it pledge not to disrupt key EU decision-making before it leaves.

If May fails to win over lawmakers on the treaty or fails to hold an election, Britain will leave with no deal on June 1.

MAY EYES BREXIT SOON
The prime minister was keen to stress that the extension to Oct. 31 — and several leaders refused to rule out further delays — did not mean she would not deliver Brexit sooner and before, as she promised her rebellious party, she steps down.

“I know that there is huge frustration from many people that I had to request this extension,” she told reporters, as her team prepared for another round of talks on Thursday with the Labour opposition, to whom May turned for help last week.

“But the choices we now face are stark and the timetable is clear. So we must now press on at pace with our efforts to reach consensus on a deal that is in the national interest,” she added, acknowledging the coming weeks would not be easy.

Tusk, a former Polish premier who has long tried to keep a door open for Britons to change their minds and stay, said the delay until Halloween gave time for London to ratify May’s deal, tweak elements of the future EU-UK relationship to Labour’s liking — or give it a chance to “cancel Brexit altogether”.

Merkel, who eased tension at the start of the talks by sharing a joke with May over photographs of them both wearing very similar jackets, stressed a need for calm and order: “We want an orderly exit by Britain,” she said. “And an orderly exit by Britain can be best ensured if we give it some time.”

FRENCH RESISTANCE
Macron defended his resistance to giving Britain nine months or a year more, saying it was for the “common good”. French officials, pointing to threats by some of May’s pro-Brexit potential successors, spoke of the EU facing “blackmail” by a future British government blocking decisions in Brussels.

“It’s true that the majority was more in favour of a very long extension. But it was not logical in my view, and above all, it was neither good for us, nor for the UK,” said Macron.

French pressure also tightened clauses referring to Britain not disrupting EU affairs if it stays in longer and a reference to a June 20-21 EU summit taking stock of the position again.

May addressed the other 27 for an hour at the start of the summit and failed to convince many, notably Macron, that she truly had a new strategy for securing ratification.

Leaders are exasperated with May’s handling of a tortuous and costly divorce that is a distraction from ensuring the bloc can hold its own against global economic challenges.

Across from the summit venue, the EU executive celebrated its part in funding a global project that produced the first picture of a black hole, prompting no shortage of ironic comments on social media about the juxtaposition.

Blogger Eliot Higgins tweeted: “We’re now more certain about what black holes look like than what Brexit looks like.”

(Reuters) – European shares edged higher on Wednesday ahead of a Brexit summit and a policy meeting of the European Central Bank, with Spanish shares rising for the first time in three days.

The regional STOXX 600 index was up 0.2 percent at 0929 GMT after flitting between slight gains and losses, led by advances in Madrid and Frankfurt.

The ECB is widely expected to keep borrowing costs on hold, but investors will be keen to see if the region’s central bank provides more details on its plans to issue a new round of cheap multi-year loans to banks to support economic growth.

The rate decision is due out at 1145 GMT.

“The economic data out of the Eurozone shows that the growth has become feeble and there is a strong need for more support from the ECB,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at TF Global Markets (UK) Ltd in London.

Investors are also waiting for U.S. inflation data and minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March policy meeting due later in the day.

Buoying sentiment was the latest data showing Britain’s economy unexpectedly grew in February, which follows the International Monetary Fund cutting its 2019 global economic growth forecasts for third time in seven months on Tuesday.

European basic resources stocks led gains on STOXX 600 while retail sector was another notable gainer, rising after four sessions of losses.

Tesco boosted the pan-region index after the company posted a better-than-expected full-year operating profit, cementing the recovery of Britain’s biggest supermarket.

Dunelm Group Plc rose more than 2 percent as the homeware retailer said it expected to top analysts’ forecasts for full-year profit, as surging online demand helped it ride out a tough British retail environment.

Shares of ASOS surged 14 percent after the British online fashion retailer stuck to its full-year guidance for sales, profit margins and capital expenditure despite a plunge in first-half pretax profit.

At the other end of the index, British engine maker Rolls-Royce dipped after agreeing to inspections on some Trent 1000 TEN engines earlier than previously planned, after the re-emergence of issues related to blade deterioration.

Shares in Indivior Plc plunged by about 75 percent after the U.S. Justice Department announced the indictment of the British drugmaker and a subsidiary on charges that they engaged in an illegal scheme to boost prescriptions of the film version of its opioid addiction treatment Suboxone.

Some ex-dividend stocks, including Swedish Match, Sampo, Nokian Tyres, were among the biggest weights on the index.

Britain’s FTSE was little changed ahead of a summit between British Prime Minister Theresa and the European Union where a Brexit extension until the end of the year or until March 2020 was looking like the most likely outcome, EU diplomats said.

Reckitt Benckiser slid more than 6 percent as the U.S. Department of Justice alleged that the illegal marketing scheme began before Indivior was spun out of the consumer goods group.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union will grant Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Brexit at an emergency summit on Wednesday but the bloc’s leaders are likely to demand she accepts a longer extension with conditions.

In a sign of just how far the Brexit crisis has sapped British power, May dashed to Berlin and Paris on the eve of the summit to ask Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to allow her to put off the departure date to June 30 from April 12

But in Brussels, a “flextension” until the end of the year or until March 2020 was shaping up to be the most likely option, EU diplomats said. Such an option would allow Britain to leave earlier if the Brexit deadlock in London could be broken.

While it was not immediately clear what Merkel and Macron, Europe’s two most powerful leaders, agreed with May, an advance draft of conclusions for Wednesday’s emergency EU summit said Britain would be granted another delay on certain conditions.

“The United Kingdom shall facilitate the achievement of the Union’s tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardize the attainment of the Union’s objectives,” read the draft seen by Reuters.

As a full member state of the EU, Britain could in theory exercise a veto on any major policy decision.

The draft left the end-date blank pending a decision by the other 27 national leaders on Wednesday evening in Brussels.

“In my view, a short extension would not bring much,” said Detlef Seif, deputy EU spokesman for Merkel’s parliamentary group. “There is no appetite to return to a new European Council every six weeks to decide whether to renew the extension.”

In European capitals there was weariness and exasperation with Britain’s tortuous Brexit divorce after 46 years of membership.

“People are tired and fed up (with Britain’s indecision) – but what to do?” one EU diplomat said. “We won’t be the ones pushing the UK off the cliff edge.”

BREXIT CRISIS
Another EU official involved with Brexit said no European power wanted the chaos that they fear a “no-deal” exit would sow through financial markets and the EU 27’s $16 trillion economy.

Nearly two weeks after Britain was originally supposed to leave the EU, May, the weakest British prime minister in a generation, has said she fears Brexit might never happen as she battles to get a divorce deal ratified by a divided parliament.

After her pledge to resign failed to get her deal over the line, she launched crisis talks with the opposition Labour Party in the hope of breaking the domestic deadlock.

But when she arrives in Brussels, May will is unlikely to be able to trumpet any breakthrough with Labour. After Tuesday’s round of talks, Labour said it had not yet seen a clear shift in May’s stance.

The Northern Irish party which props up her government said May was embarrassing the United Kingdom.

“Nearly three years after the referendum the UK is today effectively holding out a begging bowl to European leaders,” Democratic Unionist Party deputy leader Nigel Dodds said.

An official in Macron’s office said that “in the scenario of an extended delay, one year would seem too long for us”.

He added that if Britain did delay its exit, it should not take part in EU budget talks or in choosing the next president of the EU’s executive commission – and that the other 27 member states should be able to review its “sincere cooperation”.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares slipped from eight-month highs on Wednesday as the International Monetary Fund lowered its global growth outlook and as the United States and Europe locked horns over tariffs in a fresh escalation of trade tensions.

European shares were poised to begin lower, with Britain’s FTSE futures dipping 0.1 percent and Germany’s DAX futures inching down 0.02 percent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.1 percent, a day after it hit its highest since Aug. 1.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4 percent and Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.7 percent.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 gave up 0.61 percent and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.56 percent on Tuesday.

MSCI’s broadest gauge of the world’s stock markets was down slightly from Tuesday’s six-month peak but it was still up roughly 19 percent from a near two-year trough marked in December.

Although earnings forecasts have been pegged back recently, share markets have been propped up by hopes of a trade deal between Washington and Beijing and optimism that the Chinese economy may be bottoming out as policy support kicks in.

“The gap between the strength in global shares and sluggishness in the real economy has been widening,” said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

That view was reinforced on Tuesday when the IMF cut its forecast for world economic growth this year, saying the global economy is slowing more than expected and that a sharp downturn could require world leaders to coordinate stimulus measures.

U.S. data overnight added to the cautious mood, with job openings dropping to an 11-month low in February and raising doubts about the strength of U.S. labor market, which has so far been one of the few bright spots in the economy.

Global trade anxiety was another sore point for risk asset markets.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on $11 billion worth of European Union products, heightening tensions over a long-running transatlantic aircraft subsidy dispute.

The move came as markets remain on edge as negotiators try to hammer out trade deals with China and neighbors Mexico and Canada.

“This time it’s the United States and the European Union trading words and announcing retaliatory tariffs over subsidies to aircraft makers,” wrote economists at ANZ.

“Watch this space. It’s small-fry versus the U.S.-China spat, but unhelpful for sentiment.”

Global debt yields held mostly steady, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield at 2.49 percent, off its 15-month low of 2.340 percent touched late last month.

In a possible sign of investors’ strong appetite for bonds, Saudi Aramco is set to raise $12 billion with its first international bond issue after receiving more than $100 billion in orders.

It was a record breaking vote of market confidence for the oil giant despite concerns sparked after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October.

Major currencies were little moved with an immediate focus on the European leaders’ summit and the European Central Bank’s policy meeting.

EU leaders are likely to grant British Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Brexit but they could demand she accepts a much longer extension as France pushed for conditions to limit Britain’s ability to undermine the bloc.

The euro held firm at $1.1260, extending its slow recovery from a four-week low of $1.1183 touched on April 2.

The British pound was little changed at $1.3059.

The dollar was flat at 111.125 yen, having fallen 0.5 percent so far this week.

Oil prices held firm after hitting five-month highs the previous day as fighting in Libya raised supply disruption concerns.

U.S. crude futures stood at $64.10 per barrel, up 0.2 percent after rallying to a five-month high of $64.79 on Tuesday.

Brent crude futures were at $70.63 per barrel and in reach of Tuesday’s five-month peak of $71.34.

PARIS/BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders will grant Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Brexit but they could demand she accepts a much longer extension as France pushed for conditions to limit Britain’s ability to undermine the bloc.

A “flextension” until the end of the year or until March 2020, under which Britain could leave much sooner if its warring political tribes can find a majority, was shaping up to be the most likely, EU diplomats said, after envoys met in Brussels late on Tuesday to prepare for Wednesday evening’s summit with May.

In a sign of just how far the three-year Brexit crisis has sapped British power, May dashed to Berlin and Paris to ask Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to allow the world’s fifth-largest economy to put off its divorce from April 12.

While it was not immediately clear what Merkel and Macron, Europe’s two most powerful leaders, agreed with May, an advance draft of conclusions for Wednesday’s emergency EU summit said Britain would be granted another delay on certain conditions.

“The United Kingdom shall facilitate the achievement of the Union’s tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardize the attainment of the Union’s objectives,” read the draft seen by Reuters. As a full member state of the EU, Britain could in theory exercise a veto on any major policy decision.

May has asked the EU for a Brexit delay to June 30 but the draft left the end-date blank pending a decision by the other 27 national leaders on Wednesday evening in Brussels.

More than a week after Britain was originally supposed to leave the EU, May, the weakest British prime minister in a generation, has said she fears Brexit might never happen as she battles to get a divorce deal ratified by a divided parliament.

After her pledge to resign failed to get her deal over the line, she launched crisis talks with the opposition Labour Party in the hope of breaking the domestic deadlock.

“People are tired and fed up (with Britain’s indecision) – but what to do?” one EU diplomat said. “We won’t be the ones pushing the UK off the cliff edge.”

HOW LONG?
Another EU official involved with Brexit said no European power wanted the chaos that they fear a “no-deal” exit would sow through financial markets and the EU 27’s $16 trillion economy.

“Nobody wants to pull the plug by 13th April,” said the official. “But for how long – I don’t know. And France will ask a lot of questions in Brussels.”

But as May arrived at the Elysee Palace in Paris to a guard of honor, she was unable to trumpet any breakthrough with Labour.

Shortly before she landed in Paris, an official in Macron’s office said that “in the scenario of an extended delay, one year would seem too long for us”.

He added that if Britain did delay its exit, it should not take part in EU budget talks or in choosing the next president of the EU’s executive commission – and that the other 27 member states should be able to review its “sincere cooperation”.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Macron would not veto May’s extension but wanted conditions attached.

“He (Macron) certainly wants to know about conditionality, particularly the issue of the United Kingdom being involved in future (EU) decision-making,” Varadkar said.

“STOP BREXIT”
Earlier in the day, May met Merkel at her riverside Chancellery, a short walk from Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, and departed with a warm exchange of kisses.

While they discussed Brexit, Germany’s opposition liberal FDP party drove an advertising van past the Chancellery with a slogan reading: “Dear Theresa May. Just do it. Stop Brexit. Make the most of Europe’s opportunities.”

Several EU diplomats said the 12-month extension proposed by European Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair the Wednesday summit, was unlikely to fly and several capitals had agreed with France that this would be too long, fearing a protracted distraction from other pressing EU business.

In London, British Solicitor General Robert Buckland said May would “listen carefully” to any constructive suggestions made by the EU on the length of the extension. He conceded that the government might not have managed to ratify an exit deal in parliament before European elections are held on May 23-26.

According to the draft conclusions, if Britain did not take part in EU parliamentary elections properly, it would have to leave on June 1, 2019.

The pound, which has seesawed so much on Brexit news that some investors have stepped away from the sterling market, rose and then dipped on speculation Merkel could offer May a better deal. Germany denied that. [GBP/]

DIVIDED KINGDOM
The 2016 referendum revealed a United Kingdom split over much more than EU membership, and has sparked impassioned debate about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and what it means to be British.

Yet nothing is yet resolved.

Unable to convince enough of her own Conservatives of the merits of her deal to get it passed, May is courting socialist Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour Party wants to keep Britain more closely tied to the bloc after Brexit.

Labour’s demands include keeping Britain in a customs union with the EU, something that is hard to reconcile with May’s desire for Britain to have an independent trade policy, and potentially a second referendum on any deal.

After Tuesday’s round of talks, Labour said it had not yet seen a clear shift in May’s stance.

“We had further detailed and wide-ranging talks with cabinet ministers and officials today,” a Labour representative said. “We have yet to see the clear shift in the government’s position that is needed to secure a compromise agreement.”

A customs union with the EU, seen as the most likely area for compromise but so far resisted by May’s government, was the first item on the agenda for the talks, which were to include finance minister Philip Hammond. Talks resume on Thursday.

The idea of a softer Brexit is anathema to euroskeptics in May’s Conservative party who have helped to defeat her divorce deal three times this year.

Meanwhile, British lawmakers on Tuesday approved by a 420-110 margin May’s plan to seek to delay Brexit to June 30 while she tries to strike a compromise with Labour.

The government was forced to hold the vote after parliament passed a law on Monday giving themselves power to scrutinize and make changes to May’s request to extend the Article 50 negotiating period a second time.

LONDON/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – Theresa May was flying to Berlin and Paris on Tuesday to seek support for a new Brexit delay while her ministers tried to break the deadlock in London at crisis talks with the Labour Party.

More than a week after the United Kingdom was originally supposed to have left the EU, the weakest British leader in a generation has said Brexit might never happen as she battles to get a divorce deal ratified by a divided parliament.

With little sign of a resolution in London, May was visiting Europe’s two most powerful leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, to seek support for her request to delay Brexit a second time, from April 12 to June 30.

On the eve of an emergency EU summit in Brussels, chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the bloc was ready to grand a delay, but that the duration “has got to be in line with the purpose of any such extension”.

Barnier also told a news conference in Luxembourg that he hoped the cross-party talks in London would yield a compromise.

EU leaders, fatigued by the three-year Brexit crisis, have repeatedly refused to renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement May agreed in November, though on Tuesday there was speculation in London that Merkel might be open to doing just that.

“What I think would be fantastic is if Angela Merkel will try to support a proper UK Brexit by agreeing to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement,” said Andrea Leadsom, the government’s business manager in the lower house of parliament, the Commons.

Sterling rose half a percent to $1.3122 on speculation that Merkel could offer a five-year limit on the “backstop”, the controversial Irish border arrangement, but then fell back.

Barnier said he had no information about such a plan, and a German government spokesman said the report was “without any foundation”.

May met Merkel at her riverside Chancellery, a short walk from the Brandenburg Gate, where Ronald Reagan in 1987 urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall!” – the barrier that had divided West and East Berlin since 1961.

Meanwhile in London, MPs were due to debate her Brexit delay proposal.

The debate was forced on the government by parliament passing a law on Monday giving MPs the power to scrutinise and even make legally binding changes to May’s request to extend the Article 50 negotiating period.

BREXIT NOW OR NEVER?
The 2016 referendum revealed a United Kingdom divided over much more than EU membership, and has sparked impassioned debate about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and what it means to be British.

Yet nothing is resolved and many opponents of Brexit say the whole divorce is at risk, especially if there is a long delay.

Unable to convince enough of her own Conservatives of the merits of her deal to get it passed, May is courting socialist Jeremy Corbyn, whose opposition Labour Party wants to keep Britain more closely tied to the bloc after Brexit.

With further talks scheduled on Tuesday between his team and government ministers, Corbyn said that “the prime minister has not yet moved off her red lines so we can reach a compromise”.

Labour’s demands include keeping Britain in a customs union with the EU, something that is hard to reconcile with May’s desire for Britain to have an independent trade policy.

The EU has been clear that it would accept a softer Brexit, but the idea is anathema to eurosceptics in May’s party who have helped to defeat May’s divorce deal three times this year.

If Britain’s exit is delayed beyond May 22, the EU has said it will have to take part in European Parliament elections. The British government on Monday took the legal steps necessary to take part in that vote.

Without an extension, Britain is due to leave the EU at 2200 GMT on Friday, without a deal to cushion the economic shock.

While the EU is not ultimately expected to trigger such a potentially disorderly no-deal exit, diplomats said all options were on the table – from refusing a delay to granting May’s request or pushing for a longer postponement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Trade Representative on Monday proposed a list of European Union products ranging from large commercial aircraft and parts to dairy products and wine on which to slap tariffs as retaliation for European aircraft subsidies.

With the move, the USTR said it was kicking off the process for retaliation against over $11 billion worth of damage from EU subsidies to Airbus that the World Trade Organization has found cause “adverse effects” to the United States.

The European Union and the United States have been battling for more than a decade over mutual claims of illegal aid to plane giants Boeing and Airbus, with parallel cases at the WTO. Both sides have been caught paying billions of dollars of subsidies to gain advantage in the global jet business.

The move by the USTR marks an escalation of tensions as the United States seeks to slap hefty tariffs on a range of EU products. The EU has left most of its subsidies unchanged and launched additional aid since the challenge, USTR said.

“Our ultimate goal is to reach an agreement with the EU to end all WTO-inconsistent subsidies to large civil aircraft. When the EU ends these harmful subsidies, the additional U.S. duties imposed in response can be lifted,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in the statement.

The WTO said last year it would evaluate a U.S. request to slap billions of dollars worth of sanctions on European products in response to a ruling that the EU had doled out the illegal subsidies to the aircraft giant.

The United States has estimated the value of those subsidies worth $11.2 billion in trade, though the EU has challenged that estimate.

The USTR said it would announce a final product list after a WTO arbiter evaluates the claims. The result is expected this summer, the statement said.