Politico | 3 February 2017

U.K. trade diplomats hard at work

By MEGAN CASSELLA

The United Kingdom is actively assigning employees in its fledgling Department for International Trade to “prepare the ground for our exit from the EU through discussions with current EU trade partners so as to deliver maximum continuity and certainty for businesses once we leave,” the government said in a white paper released Thursday.

“Many countries including China, Brazil, and the Gulf States have already expressed their interest in enhancing their trading relationships with us,” the paper states. “We have started discussions on future trade ties with countries like Australia, New Zealand and India. The new United States administration, the world’s biggest economy, has said that they are interested in an early trade agreement with the U.K.”

The paper also addresses the U.K.’s future trading relationship with the EU through a “new customs arrangement.”

“There are a number of options for any new customs arrangement, including a completely new agreement, or for the U.K. to remain a signatory to some of the elements of the existing arrangements. The precise form of this new agreement will be the subject of negotiation.”