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France's Macron: unclear if EU-Britain to have trade deal by year-end

European Council summit in Brussels

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday cast doubt over the likelihood of the European Union and Britain reaching a post-Brexit trade deal by the end of the year, saying he expected fishing talks to be very tough.

"It's going to be tense because they are very tough...Boris Johnson has a card in his hand and it is fishing and with that he will try to gain access to the market," Macron told representatives of the French fishing industry at a farm show in Paris.

"It is not certain that we will have a global deal by the end of the year."

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz, Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Alex Richardson)