France to reopen UK border after paralyzing busiest port

Critical trade and transportation links between the UK and continental Europe are to resume after France agreed to end a suspension that crippled Britain’s busiest port at a time of high political drama over Brexit. EU citizens and residents able to show negative Covid-19 tests will be able to travel from the UK, according to French PM Jean Castex. The objective is now to have freight traffic moving by Wednesday morning, a French official said. France cut off shipments from Dover in southeast England on Sunday because of concern over a faster-spreading variant of Covid-19 that prompted the UK. government to lock down London and surrounding areas. What followed was two days of cross-Channel political bartering over the reopening of routes just as negotiations with the EU over a post-Brexit trade deal intensified. With less than 10 days to go before a transition period ends on Dec. 31, the upheaval gave a snapshot of the potential pain Britain’s closest continental neighbor can unleash.<br/>