WITH EACH new initiative the EU introduces, the gap between the EU-28 that the UK was part of and the new EU-27 widens.

This is particularly so in agriculture. Since January we have seen new CAP and green initiatives, a new policy on food promotion and now a new EU approach to global trade. From a Brussels perspective this is further confirmation that Brexit has been parked. It is yesterday's issue and the EU member states have decided to move on and forge new global relationships.

The UK is trying to do the same, but it is bogged down by the detail of its trade deal with the EU and the decision to put sovereignty ahead of market access. The EU is in a post-Brexit era, but the UK is finding that difficult. The easy way around that would be to accept the principle of equivalence for food products. This would mean the UK committing to maintain EU standards in veterinary and other areas for the long term. This would allow trade with fewer checks, and would get over the practical and political headaches the Northern Ireland protocol is creating.

For London, this is probably a bridge too far. It would reverse the principle of placing sovereignty ahead of market access, so while it is common sense and a way to speed up trade, the political mood is probably against it.

Change will not be helped by the decision to put the person who negotiated the trade deal, David Frost, in charge of relations with Brussels. He demanded and secured a seat in the cabinet and is expected to bring a harder edge to negotiations with Brussels than Michael Gove, who has been doing the job. This was decided by Boris Johnson, who does not see the irony in Brexit being about escaping control by unelected officials – only to give a a former civil servant a crucial political role.

Relations between Brussels and London are now in the hands of the two unelected people who negotiated the trade deal – Frost as Johnson's enforcer and Michel Barnier, now the key adviser on Brexit to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.

Trade deals are easy if you throw open your market and impose no standards. That is clearly impractical. The new European Commission trade policy seeks to bridge commercial realities with its determination to be the world's greenest trading bloc. Its drive to achieve that by 2030 is central to all its policies. Brussels says on trade that it wants 'fair and sustainable' global trading rules. It also claims turning inwards, by strengthening Fortress Europe, is not the way to achieve economic success and job creation.

It however also promises a 'more assertive and aggressive' trade policy to defend its economic and social values. In a reference to a hoped for trade deal with the Biden administration in the United States – also the UK's number one target – the EU says there is potentially 'no stronger values based alliance' in the world. This underlines that trade deals are ultimately about size and scope more than political relationships – and a market of over 450 million people remains the EU's trump card over the UK.

The EU is now a competitor for the UK in the drive for trade deals. Few have yet been signed but this will have to happen quickly, as UK companies are losing the advantages of global free trade arrangements as an EU member state. The challenge for the trade secretary, Liz Truss, is to balance the need for deals with protecting UK standards.

This is very much the case with food, but it also extends to the government's new green agenda. Truss recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Brazil that she hopes will lead to a trade deal. This raises the issue of Brazilian food imports and standards, not least over the destruction of rainforests to create agricultural land. This could become a touchstone issue in UK trade negotiations.

After 20 years the EU is effectively politically stuck in trying to finalise a trade deal with the Mercosur countries, including Brazil. The UK can only avoid that trap by rolling back on justified concerns about Brazilian imports. That is where post-Brexit trade policies become difficult for a country desperate for deals, while trying at the same time to fly its green policy flag even higher than that of the EU.