(Twocoms / Shutterstock.com)Dr. Liam Fox MP, secretary of state for International Trade, told the International Trade Committee yesterday that trade deals will not necessarily roll over post-Brexit. Anna Tobin reports
Dr Liam Fox was asked by the International Trade Committee whether he was confident that the Trade Bill, currently at the report stage in the House of Lords, could pass all its stages in time for the UK leaving the EU in March. Fox said that he is “increasingly confident of this.” He was then asked whether the approximate 40 trade agreements that the UK is seeking to roll over by Brexit to allow continuity of trade had been confirmed. Fox said he was confident that these would all go ahead, providing that the Withdrawal Agreement was agreed, but he conceded that he hadn’t had confirmation from all the 70 countries involved in these agreements. These agreements amount to around 12% of UK trade.
A report in today’s Financial Times fuels this concern. It states that the Department for International Trade has admitted that the UK will fail to conclude trade deals with most non-EU countries by March 29. This reportedly includes deals with Canada, South Korea, Turkey and Japan.
Keep up to date with the latest Brexit negotiations here
Sign up now for all these Brexit business tools
NO DEAL BREXIT
ACTION PLAN
The No Deal Brexit Action Plan maps out the time available and the time required to undertake the processes to prepare your business for a No Deal Brexit.
Your business will need to modify or completely change procedures to prepare for Brexit. Brexlists help you take a rigorous and structured approach to your preparations:
- The Executive Summary Brexlist Brexit checklist, as its name implies, highlights the key issues
- The Business Functions Brexlist Brexit checklist maps onto the key business functions in a company
- The Directory Brexlist Brexit checklist maps onto the topic headings in our Brexit Directory
highlight what needs to be done, and by when, to ensure that all parts of your supply chain are prepared for Brexit:
- Identify the key questions for your business
- Share key learnings with your business partners
- Identify the key challenges and opportunities
- Highlight key internal and external priorities
BREXIT
DIRECTORY
The Brexit Directory is an extensive database of information and links organised by business function to help you find the information your business needs to know.