Barnier: frictionless trade impossible post-Brexit

The European Union's Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said Monday frictionless trade will be "impossible" after the UK leaves the EU.

He was speaking in Belfast five days before the UK is due to depart.

"The UK has chosen to become a third country, to leave the single market and to leave the customs union, to leave behind the EU's framework of common rules, common supervision and common Court of Justice," he said.

"It has chosen to create two regulatory spaces. This makes frictionless trade impossible. It makes checks indispensable."

Barnier said Britain's future relationship with the EU would depend on the extent to which it continued to align itself with the EU  standards.

Britain's exit on Friday, the first time a nation has left the bloc, will be followed by an 11-month transition period.

During that time Britain will continue to follow EU rules while the two sides work out new deals on trade, security and other areas.