Britain aims for EU trade deals after Brexit, says May

Osaka, Japan, Aug. 30: Britain is looking at ways to replicate the trade deals that the European Union has with countries outside the bloc when it exits the EU in March 2019, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday.

The freedom to strike new trade deals independently of the EU has been highlighted by the government as a benefit of Brexit.

But businesses have voiced concern about how existing trade relationships will work after Britain has left the bloc.

Speaking on a business trip to Japan designed to reassure investors that There’s obviously a number of trade deals that the EU has with other countries, and we are looking at the possibility of those being able to be brought over into, certainly initially, trade deals with the UK

Theresa May,

the British economy will flourish after Brexit, Ms May indicated that the first step in recasting Britain as a world leader in free trade would be to copy EU trade agreements.

“There’s obviously a number of trade deals that the EU has with other countries, and we are looking at the possibility of those being able to be brought over into, certainly initially, trade deals with the United Kingdom,” Ms May told reporters on her way to Japan for meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“I think we will give businesses certainty, which is what business wants at the point at which we leave.”