The United Kingdom and the European Union say they will strengthen their relationship after the damage caused by Brexit.

The European Union and the United Kingdom have agreed not to let a fight over the transport of chilled meats from Britain to Northern Ireland sputter out of control for the moment and further damage already fraught relations between the two.

Britain’s Brexit minister says post-Brexit relations between the U.K. and the European Union are likely to be “bumpy" for some time.

Police and politicians in Northern Ireland have appealed for calm after a third night of violence that saw Protestant youths start fires and pelt officers with bricks and gasoline bombs.

(AP Photo/Frank Augstein, file)The divorce between the U.K. and the EU is turning nastier by the day. AdOn March 3 the U.K. decided to unilaterally extend a grace period until October on checks for goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland. “They are lawful and part of a progressive and good faith implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol," the spokesperson said in a statement. AdThe U.K. government said that it saw challenges that businesses like supermarkets faced in Northern Ireland in the first weeks of the year. Only last week, the leaders of the EU and the U.K. went head-to-head in an angry exchange over vaccine exports.

Authorities in Northern Ireland have suspended post-Brexit border checks on animal products and withdrawn workers after threats against border staff. The Northern Ireland government said it had stopped inspections of animal products at Belfast and Larne ports “in the interests of the wellbeing of staff.” The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it had increased patrols in the area. An open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is a key pillar of the peace process that ended decades of violence in the region. He also said problems in shipping some goods to Northern Ireland caused by the new trade rules needed to be resolved. He said senior politicians from the U.K., Northern Ireland and the bloc would discuss the ports situation on Wednesday.

The deadline for Gibraltar remains Jan. 1, when a transitionary period regulating the short frontier between Gibraltar and Spain expires. Political will is needed.”Throughout the Brexit talks, Spain has insisted it wants a say on the future of Gibraltar. The Rock was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has never dropped its claim to sovereignty over it. More than 15,000 people live in Spain and work in Gibraltar, making up about 50% of Gibraltar’s labor force. The territory still remembers how, in 1969, Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco slammed shut the border in an attempt to wreck Gibraltar’s economy.

With less than two months to go before the U.K. exits the EU's economic orbit, trade deal talks resume in London. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)LONDON – The British government told businesses on Tuesday to make sure they are ready for big changes when the U.K. makes its final Brexit break from the European Union in exactly a month. Talks are continuing, and U.K. officials have said this is the last week to strike a deal. That will hurt both sides, but the burden will fall most heavily on Britain, which does almost half its trade with the EU. But firms that trade with the EU say they still don’t know what conditions they will face in a month’s time.

Teams from Britain and the European Union are continuing face-to-face talks on a post-Brexit trade deal in the little remaining time. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)LONDON – Britain’s foreign minister said Sunday there is only about a week left for the U.K. and the European Union to strike a post-Brexit trade deal, with fishing rights the major obstacle to an agreement. EU countries want their boats to be able to keep fishing in British waters, while the U.K. insists it must control access and quotas. “On fisheries, there is a point of principle: As we leave the transition, we are an independent coastal state and we’ve got to be able to control our waters,” Raab said. That will hurt both sides, but the burden will fall most heavily on Britain, which does almost half its trade with the EU.

LONDON – Teams from Britain and the European Union resumed face-to-face talks on a post-Brexit trade deal Saturday, with both sides sounding gloomy about striking an agreement in the little time that remains. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier returned to London to meet his U.K. counterpart David Frost. If there is no deal, New Year’s Day will bring huge disruption, with the overnight imposition of tariffs and other barriers to U.K.-EU trade. That will hurt both sides, but the burden will fall most heavily on Britain, which does almost half its trade with the EU. The U.K. claims the EU is failing to respect its independence and making demands it has not placed on other countries with whom it has free trade deals, such as Canada.

Its experience is evidence that Brexit is set to be bumpy, even for businesses that have tried to get ready. “We’d built up this fantastic stock for the worst-case Brexit scenario,” said Brompton chief executive Will Butler-Adams. Brompton boss Butler-Adams is an optimist, an ebullient enthusiast for cycling and British manufacturing. Brompton and other British manufacturers say removing the 48.5% tax will flood the market with cheap bikes subsidized by the Chinese state. “If it was about resolving the technical detail, we could have a deal tomorrow.”Butler-Adams says a deal will make things easier, though he struggles to see any business upside to Brexit.

(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)BRUSSELS – European Union and British negotiators on Monday entered yet another tension-filled week as they sought a belated post-Brexit trade deal that needs to be vetted and get legislative approval before a Jan. 1 cutoff date. The U.K. already left the EU on Jan. 31, but a transition period when EU rules apply to trade and other issues runs until the end of next month. Both sides had hoped to get a trade deal by then to save hundreds of thousands of jobs that could be at stake if Brexit amounts to a brutal cliff edge divorce. And the EU insisted that it wouldn't be forced into any deal because of time pressure. At some point, it will come to EU and UK leaders to settle the final divisive issues.

But Britain seized on conciliatory comments by EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, saying they offered the chance of a breakthrough. Barnier has already agreed to “intensify” talks — a key U.K. demand — and to discuss the legal text of an agreement. The two sides have been trying to strike a trade deal since the U.K. left the EU on Jan. 31. The bloc also accuses Britain of seeking the kind of unfettered access to its markets usually reserved for EU members. If there is no deal, businesses on both sides of the English Channel face tariffs and other obstacles to trade starting Jan. 1.

After a short meeting between the two sides in Brussels, U.K. Brexit planning minister Michael Gove said Britain wouldn't withdraw its Internal Market Bill, which includes clauses to override parts of the Brexit withdrawal treaty. “Those clauses will remain in that bill” as a safety net in case the U.K. and the EU don't reach a trade agreement, Gove said. The rift means that talks between the two sides' trade negotiators will begin Tuesday under an ominous cloud. Sefcovic warned Monday that Britain shouldn't try to use the withdrawal agreement and its Northern Ireland provisions as “a bargaining chip” in trade negotiations. ___Follow all developments on the EU-Britain trade talks at https://apnews.com/Brexit.

European Union's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier waits for start of a meeting on further Brexit negotiations at EU headquarters in Brussels, Monday, June 29, 2020. European Union and U.K. negotiators resumed in-person talks on a post-Brexit trade deal on Monday, with both sides insisting that the process must accelerate markedly if they're to reach an agreement by the end of the year. It means that we need to intensify the negotiations, EU Council President Charles Michel said on June 19, after chairing a summit of the blocs leaders. The parties disagree notably on regulations for businesses and for the fishing industry, with the U.K. firmly opposed to EU demands for long-term access to British waters. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said a trade deal remains possible if there is compromise on fisheries.

The EU and Britain disagree notably on regulations for businesses and for the fishing industry in particular, with the U.K. adamantly opposed to EU demands for long-term access to British waters. Last week, the EU and the U.K. agreed to intensify their negotiations following another inconclusive round of discussions. The U.K. left the political institutions of the EU on Jan. 31 but remains inside the EUs tariff-free economic zone until the end of the year. European Council President Charles Michel and David Sassoli, the president of the European Parliament, will attend Monday's meeting alongside von der Leyen. Britains Michael Gove, the minister in charge of Brexit preparations, and David Frost, the U.K chief negotiator, are set to assist Johnson.