UK Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her keynote Brexit speech at Lancaster House. The value of the pound reversed recent losses and staged its biggest single-day rally against the U.S dollar since at least 1998. But there was a lukewarm reception from political leaders in EU countries, a reminder that agreeing the kind of trade deal May wants will be an arduous - even painful - task. Getting rid of barriers to trade in services, the dominant sector in Britain's economy, is also likely to be hard, although those backing Brexit argue barriers already exist within the EU. Brexit supporters also point to Britain's large goods deficit with the EU - a record 8.59 billion pounds in November 2016.

Source: Bangkok Post January 17, 2017 20:22 UTC