July 27, 2020 – A top German industry official said the failure of talks between the European Union and the UK over a future relationship is “almost inevitable” and warned of “economic disaster.” There are too many outstanding issues for them to be resolved in time and companies on both sides of the English Channel should “prepare for bilateral trade without an agreement under WTO rules,” Joachim Lang, managing director of Germany’s BDI industry lobby, said in a statement Friday. “German industry does not expect the UK to complete the infrastructure for cross-border trade in time,” Lang added. “Companies face the threat of new tariffs, additional bureaucracy and an economic disaster.”