Britain has been warned it faces a "tough road ahead" in trade deal talks with the EU, as the bloc agreed its red lines for the negotiations.

Brussels wants the UK to sign up to a "level playing field" as the price of any deal on the future relationship.

Speaking in Brussels, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the bloc "will not conclude talks at any price".

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"In a very brief period you cannot do everything, we will do as much as we can," Mr Barnier said, referring to the end of the transition period in December.

"These will be complex, demanding, very difficult negotiations."


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This sets the stage for an EU attempt to get Britain to follow some of the bloc's rules and standards - something Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to contemplate.

Britain left the bloc on 31 January and is currently in an 11-month transition period which ends on 31 December.

Having agreed the terms of the UK's exit, this phase is designed to allow both sides the time to sort out the details of the future relationship.

Despite fears from opponents and many senior figures in the EU that there is not enough time, Mr Johnson has ruled out extending the transition period beyond the end of 2020.

With the clock ticking towards that deadline, both sides have been drawing up their red lines for the next phase of the Brexit process.

In its negotiating mandate, the EU says that any future relationship should be "underpinned by robust commitments to ensure a level playing field for open and fair competition, given the EU and the UK's geographic proximity and economic independence".

But in a sign of the potential difficulties ahead, the UK's chief negotiator has said that signing up to follow EU standards would defeat the point of Brexit.

Another likely flashpoint is set to be fishing.

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The EU has agreed to try and negotiate to "uphold the existing reciprocal access to waters", while Mr Johnson has promised that post-Brexit British fishing grounds will be "first and foremost for British boats".

Mr Barnier said a free trade deal with the UK had to include fishing rights "or there won't be any agreement at all".

A third point of contention will be a controversial clause stating that Britain should "return unlawfully removed cultural objects to their countries of origin".

This is believed to refer to the Elgin Marbles, ancient Greek sculptures brought to the UK more than 200 years ago and now on display in the British Museum.

Athens has demanded that the marble sculptures, which once adorned the Greek Parthenon temple, be returned.

But Downing Street has rebuffed such calls, saying that the future of the marbles is "not up for discussion as part of our trade negotiations".

Image: Boris Johnson held talks with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Downing Street on Tuesday

Following the EU's announcement of its negotiating aims on Tuesday, Number 10 accused Brussels of backing away from the terms of the political declaration on the future relationship agreed by the EU and UK last year.

The prime minister's official spolkesman said: "The political declaration was agreed alongside the withdrawal agreement and sets out aspirations and parameters for the upcoming negotiations on the future relationship.

"The political declaration was clear that this would be based on a free trade agreement.

"The EU's mandate itself moves away from what was set out in the political declaration."

The spokesman also branded the term "level playing field" as an "EU construct" and "not a piece of terminology we use".

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Mr Johnson gathered his top team in Number 10 earlier on Tuesday to agree the UK's own negotiating mandate.

He later held talks with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Downing Street.

Ministers are expected to set out the UK's demands for a Canada-style agreement with zero tariffs when the negotiating mandate is published on Thursday.

Mr Johnson's official spokesman said: "It was a very smooth process to agree our approach which will restore our economic and political independence and which is based on other existing FTAs [free trade agreements] between the EU and like-minded sovereign nations.

"We look forward to engaging with the EU constructively following the publication of their mandate.

"The UK's primary objective in the negotiations is to ensure that we restore our economic and political independence on January 1 2021.

"At the end of this year we will be leaving the single market and customs union and taking back control of our own laws and our own trade."

Ahead of Thursday, Downing Street has outlined its initial response to the EU's negotiating mandate in a series of tweets.

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"The EU has respected the autonomy of other major economies around the world such as Canada and Japan when signing trade deals with them. We just want the same," the official Number 10 press office account said.

Downing Street added: "We agree the UK's trade with the EU is significant. The US's is on the same scale - yet that did not stop the EU being willing to offer the US zero tariffs without the kind of level playing field commitments or the legal oversight they have put in today's mandate."

The first round of talks is expected to take place in Brussels on Monday, followed by a second round in London later in March.

Ahead of the discussions getting under way, European ministers have expressed concerns about the tight timetable.

Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok warned: "The time pressure is immense, the interests are huge - it's a very complicated treaty - so it will be very hard work. A tough road ahead,"

Simon Coveney, Ireland's foreign minister, said Brussels was making a "generous and fair" offer to the UK, but warned the PM not to renege on the commitments in the withdrawal agreement.