Trade Agreements

(asked on 25th March 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many trade deals have been rolled over in time for the UK leaving the EU; and what estimate he has made of the number of trade deals that will be rolled over one year after the UK has left the EU.


Answered by
George Hollingbery Portrait
George Hollingbery
This question was answered on 28th March 2019

The best way to provide continuity and stability in our global trading relationships is to have a deal with the European Union so that the UK can remain covered by all existing trade agreements during the Implementation Period. After this we will seek to bring into force bilateral agreements that replicate the effects of existing agreements as far as possible.

Nevertheless, the Government is working to have bilateral agreements in place ready for when we need them, whether that is in the event of no deal, or after the proposed implementation period. The Government has signed trade continuity agreements with Chile, the Faroe Islands, the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) trade bloc, Switzerland, Israel, Palestinian Authority, Pacific states and CARIFORUM countries. We expect these to be in place by exit day, even in the event of a no deal. This list is kept up to date on Gov.uk (LINK) as we continue to sign trade continuity agreements. The Government has also initialled an agreement with EEA countries Iceland and Norway. This is expected to be signed shortly. Liechtenstein is covered under an additional agreement to the UK-Switzerland Trade Agreement.

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