LONDON, 14 December, 2020, (TON): Although the UK and the EU have not yet reached a deal, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave a short statement.

Von der Leyen said on Sunday that “Brexit trade talks with the U.K. will be extended beyond Sunday’s deadline, adding that “we think it is responsible at this point to go the extra mile.”

"We have accordingly mandated our negotiators to continue the talks and to see whether an agreement can even be reached at this late stage," she said.

Von der Leyen spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson via telephone on Sunday before releasing a joint statement. Both have now mandated their negotiating teams to continue their work.

Johnson said the UK would not be the one to walk away from Brexit talks, but he still said Britain should prepare for a no-deal situation.

"We're going to keep talking. The UK certainly won't walk away from talks. ... The most likely thing now is we've got to get ready for WTO terms, Australia terms," Johnson said.

"Either way, whatever happens, the UK will do very, very well," he added.

Sunday's deadline was just the last in a series of such self-imposed cutoff dates, but time is running short, with a transition period scheduled to end on December 31.

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said late Sunday that he would brief the bloc's ambassadors early Monday morning regarding the state of negotiations with the UK.

Media reports from the U.K. suggested there had been some progress in talks in recent days, despite the lack of a breakthrough. No new deadline for the discussions was set by the EU and U.K. leaders.

The U.K. left the EU in January but it agreed to keep the same standards and regulations until the end of the year, so both sides would have time to develop new trading arrangements.

However, this transition period ends in less than three weeks and there are serious concerns that they will not have a new agreement ready by then. Failure to get an agreement in the coming weeks, a so-called no-deal Brexit, could push up taxes and costs for exporters on both sides.

Without a deal, the UK would have to trade with the EU under World Trade Organization rules.