More volatility expected for EURO and POUND as Britain and European Union strike last-minute post-Brexit trade deal

With just days until the deadline, the United Kingdom and European Union agreed to a post-Brexit trade deal signaling the end of a four-year saga that engulfed British politics and exposed a deep cultural divide that shows no signs of healing.

“I’m very pleased to tell you this afternoon that we have completed our biggest trade deal yet,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a televised news conference, championing the agreement that he said would be worth 660 billion pounds a year (about $890 billion).

The deal “achieves something that the people of this country instinctively knew was doable but which they were told was impossible,” he said. “We’ve taken back control of our laws and our destiny.”

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the E.U.’s executive branch, said at a separate news conference: “It was a long and winding road but we have got a good deal to show for it.”

She said rather than joy she merely felt “satisfaction and relief,” telling the British that “parting is such sweet sorrow” and urging the rest of Europe, “it is time to leave Brexit behind.”

The U.K. voted to leave the E.U. in 2016 and after years of tortuous politicking finally exited on Jan. 31 this year. Until Dec. 31 it is in a “transition period” with the remaining 27 E.U. countries, keeping the same rules while trying to negotiate a deal.

Negotiators have been shuttling between London and Brussels for months. For most of that time it seemed as though they would be unable to break the deadlock, which centered around how to stop Britain from gaining an unfair advantage on its newly estranged neighbors, and fishing rights — an economically tiny but nonetheless symbolic sector of the British economy.

David Henig, U.K. director at the European Centre For International Political Economy, a think tank, described it as “a good deal for both sides.”