Bernd Lange, Chair of the EU Parliament Trade Committee, is currently expressing the best balance between trade openness and conditionality. Let's see if EU Mercosur can finally conclude. And a little read across to UK EU trade.

One UK-EU negotiation that is under way, and is becoming a bit of a concern given that has been the case for some time.

By this point wondering if I should volunteer to be French Prime Minister? Heading back to the UK tomorrow, but since no candidate seems to even last that long...

Chinese companies invest globally shocker! This isn't Cold War 2, "connector countries" are countries, globalisation is carrying on, politicians didn't make it and they aren't breaking it. The new Washington Consensus doesn't work. Apart from that... on.ft.com/3MvW4ov

How close to the EU does Keir Starmer want the UK to be? As polls show Britons are increasingly over Brexit, is there a way back to Brussels? Does the EU even want us? It’s going to be a long slow process David Henig 🇺🇦 @ecipe tells me and LoudMouth whycurve.com/episode/ukeu-a…

Available to write at great length about why Barnier's appointment as French Prime minister and his role as chief Brexit negotiator have precisely nothing to do with each other.

Some good points raised here on the UK-EU reset by Peter Foster - there are already obvious issues. Still the case that Whitehall thinking has barely begun, and there are things that can be done, of mutual interest. But also this is not going to be easy. ft.com/content/260041…

This is fair, I think. There's a lack of coherence and ruthlessness on the part of the UK's pro-EU camp. And a fair helping of naivety.

So true

Have we considered the possibility that Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are just better than their western counterparts, being plugged in (sorry / not) to a large growing domestic market? Maybe self drive wasn't, like diesel, the answer? on.ft.com/3XicEgo

Hard to imagine electric vehicle tariffs won't happen, but probably good that contacts continue to hopefully avoid too much escalation.