Brexit observers may have noticed a spat going on over the weekend involving the EU, Canada and Belgium which typifies all that is wrong with the EU structure.

Supporters of Brexit will greet it with knowing familiarity and further evidence to support their voting to leave. Remain voters may interpret it as an inevitable price of being part of the EU collective and so be it.

Investors should now be agnostic in view as the vote delivered a Brexit result and we have to accept that whilst trying to navigate the waters ahead. At face value, it would appear that a small socialist-leaning state in Belgium with a population of 3.6m has scuppered an EU-Canada trade deal which has been seven years in the making.

This feature brings the whole trade negotiating EU process into sharp focus and exposes the flaws within it. In fact, in this particular case, the EU chose to abandon the normal procedure for ratifying trade deals involving member state representatives and instead chose to involve regional parliaments.

This was done under pressure from Germany who feared they may fail to gain member state agreement, only for this farcical obstacle to appear in a region which represents under 0.5% of all EU-Canada trade.

If the EU cannot even agree this, which was not controversial or radical as far as trade deals go, what hope is there for the mooted US trade deal or any other?

Most importantly for the UK, what chance is there for a smooth Brexit negotiation in just two years having invoked Article 50? This very question was posed to Theresa May on Friday and she dismissed it. In fact, this EU-Canada trade deal was being cited as a possible framework for the UK post-Brexit. However, we appear to also want our own exclusive deal due to the unique position of the City of London and the declarations by Phillip Hammond that EU-passporting will be prioritised.

This is all cooking up into a right old scrap which is going to make the build up to the US election appear very tolerable and short-lived.

We hear this week that the British Bankers’ Association is saying that large banks are getting ready to relocate out of the UK in light of a view that passporting and migration controls are non-negotiable EU red lines.

The latter was a key Brexit voter demand whilst the former is a key Government ambition. If it was a straight choice between the two, it would likely be the former that goes rather than fly in the face of democracy.

After all, we have been told several times that ‘Brexit means Brexit’ which implies there will be no middle ground fudges.

All this suggests that the UK, its economy and Sterling are in for a more prolonged period of uncertainty from March 2017 when Article 50 is invoked and in the immediate period as speculation mounts.

This Canadian example of the EU’s deal-making ability suggests that the UK, one day, will be able to forge trade deals far more efficiently from outside the EU.

However, we are not allowed to agree any trade deals until we have actually exited and if that takes more than the allotted two year period, hard luck.

Whilst the UK may hold the cards right now in terms of the timing of invoking Article 50, all it takes is one member of the EU to stand in the way of any agreement for two years and we then fall back onto WTO visas and tariffs, unless the EU grants us an extension, and they all have to agree on that as well.

Mr Tusk (another Donald) and Mr Juncker are so motivated to set an example by the UK’s Brexit decision, they can easily ensure that we default to WTO arrangements which will be the hardest Brexit there is.

No wonder that businesses, such as banks, are potentially taking matters into their own hands rather than leave their European business strategy in the hands of politicians.

This is partly why our asset allocation is currently underweight to UK domestic businesses and more tilted towards overseas earners.

Anyone trying to look for value in those affected UK sectors is going to face a long wait with a rollercoaster ride in 2017 and beyond as the jousting starts.

Mr Carney may yet get his opportunity to cut interest rates as the uncertainty builds. This week sees the first cut of third quarter UK GDP which will partly reveal what impact there has been following the Brexit vote.

You will recall how this surprised on the upside back in August with no apparent pre-Brexit impact. Brace yourself for the next report.

Another theme that we are observing is corporate exploitation of Sterling’s depreciation.

Microsoft is increasing its software prices by 20% for this very reason. This is to maintain its revenue stream by value rather than any suggestion that its costs have increased.

We suspect that Unilever was trying it on with Marmite-gate bearing in mind the product is made in the UK.

However, it shows that businesses are not holding back at exploiting the situation and ultimately this impacts businesses and the consumer, leading to lower growth. It also suggests that inflation could well rise more than markets are currently pricing in.

Not many people are crediting the unpopular ex-Chancellor George Osborne with anything during his period of tenure.

However, one thing he may be proved correct on is the economic impact of Brexit. Or to be more precise, the economic vulnerability it introduces during the negotiating period, which could well last many years and impact UK GDP significantly.