Boris Johnson will change the law to guarantee the Brexit transition phase is not extended, setting up a new cliff-edge for a no-deal split with the European Union at the end of next year. The U.K. prime minister wants to deliver his election promise to ratify a new free-trade agreement with the bloc before the bridging period maintaining the status quo runs out on Dec. 31, 2020. EU leaders have warned it’s highly unlikely that negotiators will be able to complete the kind of deal Johnson wants, which he’s modeled on Canada’s agreement with the EU, in the 11 months between Brexit day Jan. 31 and the December deadline. (Bloomberg) For Chinese President Xi Jinping, the phase-one trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump isn’t completely a victory. After months of unfinished negotiations, the agreement helps steady a relationship in free-fall. While that’s important for Xi, who has faced rumblings of discontent as the economy grows at the slowest pace in almost three decades, followed by Hong Kong protests, it’s at best a temporary respite. The deal did nothing to address the industrial policies that have driven frustrations with China in Washington. Nor will it reduce the intensifying competition between the two sides over the future of 5G technology, geopolitical hot spots like Taiwan and the South China Sea. (Bloomberg)   Source: Danareksa Sekuritas Debt Research Photo by Ming Jun Tan on Unsplash