BRUSSELS—A year before Britain’s exit from the European Union, the bloc’s leaders approved the start of negotiations over future trade ties with the U.K., setting up a race against time to sketch the shape of the deal.
Meeting Friday morning, EU leaders speedily signed off on the bloc’s guidelines for the future trade talks and approved the terms of a 21-month transition agreement negotiated with Britain in recent weeks.
The two sides have until the fall to complete the details of Britain’s withdrawal agreement and define the basic lines of the future trade deal. That future agreement can only be competed once Britain leaves, due in March 2019. Many European officials believe it could take several years to complete and ratify.
“We are taking a decisive step this morning in this difficult, extraordinary negotiation,” Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator told reporters.
The advance of talks and the completion of the transition is a boost for U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, whose precarious political position at home has at times threatened to slow or even upend talks.
“I believe there is a new dynamic now in the negotiations,” she said as she left a Brussels summit. “I believe we are approaching this with a spirit of cooperation, a spirit of opportunity for the future as well.”
The last nine months have been a reality check for Britain. In addition to agreeing to a divorce bill of at least £39 billion ($55 billion) and making politically painful promises to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, Britain has accepted most transition terms the EU pressed for.
Britain will lose its vote in the EU but must continue to accept EU rules and regulations during the transition while implementing EU court decisions. EU citizens who arrive in Britain during the transition will continue to have a direct path to permanent residency.
The EU has also maintained that a trade agreement will keep zero tariffs across goods and agricultural trade, but must be limited in scope because of Britain’s plans to leave the EU’s single market and end free movement of citizens from the EU to the U.K.
European officials say Britain can have no exceptional access to the EU’s single market for key sectors like auto manufacturers, financial services or airlines.
There are some signs the coming months could strain EU unity. Over the past couple of weeks, EU governments have disagreed over the terms of their guidelines for future talks, with specific countries seeking to minimize the disruptions of Britain’s exit.
Luxembourg officials pushed more flexible language on financial services, which British officials hope might give London the ability to influence EU decisions on whether to recognize British financial rules and regulation as equivalent to the EU’s.
Separately, Spain sought guarantees that its partly British owned airlines will still be able to operate domestic flights.
“This is a signal of how difficult the next phase will be, as each nation will bring their national interest to the forefront, complicating the EU position and making it more difficult to keep unity,” said one EU diplomat familiar with the discussions.
With her party lacking a parliamentary majority at home and pro-Brexit lawmakers pressing for concessions ranging from continued EU fish quotas to the size of the divorce bill, it’s unclear whether Mrs. May will want to settle for a vague outline of future trade terms in October to help secure Parliament’s backing.
EU leaders have pledged to review progress in June. That includes monitoring whether Britain has followed through on its pledge to ensure Brexit won’t lead to the restoration of a hard border in Ireland.
Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar signaled he would give Mrs. May’s government time.
“Would I like it to be done by June? Yes, absolutely,” he said. “But I would rather have the right deal in October rather than any deal in June."
— Jenny Gross and William Horobin contributed to this article.
Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com and Valentina Pop at valentina.pop@wsj.com
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