Calls for ‘watertight’ guarantees on trade deals with 70 countries

TRADE DEALS with about 70 countries could be put at risk unless the Government obtains “legally watertight” guarantees they can continue after Brexit, MPs have warned.

Ministers want agreements struck while the UK was a member of the European Union to continue after it has left the bloc in March 2019.

The Government has said that none of the other countries has objected to the approach, but MPs on the Commons International Trade Committee warned that it could be naive to assume that means roll-over of the deals is “actually certain to occur”.

There is a “disturbing lack of precision and clarity about the legal mechanism whereby the Government envisages EU trade agreements with some 70 countries being rolled over”, the MPs said. The Government must show it has a “legally watertight and practically viable strategy” for avoiding a “cliff edge” in trade.

The MPs warned: “The Government would risk appearing naive if it assumed that assentin-principle to roll over an agreement constitutes a guarantee that roll-over is actually certain to occur at the point of Brexit.

“It must be realistic about the steps that are necessary to get new agreements in place – and have contingency plans for the eventuality that the third countries concerned change their minds.”

International Trade Minister Greg Hands said: “We have already held discussions with more than 70 countries, unlike the committee, and none have displayed any interest in disrupting trade flows, or in erecting barriers to trade that do not currently exist.”