Ministers are rushing to try to ensure continuity of about 40 free trade deals held by EU

This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

Britain has signed a trade continuity agreement with Switzerland to avoid disruption for thousands of businesses post-Brexit, less than 50 days before the UK is due to leave the EU.

The Department for International Trade said the agreement would maintain UK-Swiss trade under the preferential terms currently available to both countries through an EU free trade deal.

It comes as ministers rush to ensure the continuity of about 40 free trade deals held by the EU covering more than 70 countries, which Britain currently has access to via EU membership but will lose after Brexit.

Ministers have conceded in private meetings with business leaders that they will not be able to replace all of the deals before the Brexit deadline on 29 March, meaning a large proportion of UK exports could shift to World Trade Organization rules. This would mean higher border tariffs and extra costs for companies in Britain and abroad.

Japan has sought to extract hefty concessions from Britain before Brexit, while talks with many nations have been delayed by the lack of clarity over Britain’s future trading relationship with the EU.

The trade between Britain and the countries and regions covered by the EU free trade agreements amounts to about 14% of all UK goods imports and exports each year, worth as much as £117bn in 2017.

Signing the Swiss trade continuity deal will enable ministers to declare that progress is being made, but deals with major trading partners including Canada, South Korea and Japan remain to be signed.

Britain has agreed mutual recognition trade deals with Australia and New Zealand, as well as trade continuity agreements with Switzerland, Chile, the Faroe Islands and the eastern and southern Africa trading bloc.

Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, who signed the Swiss accord in Berne on Monday with a Swiss federal councillor, Guy Parmelin, said the deal was of “huge economic importance” to Britain and would benefit 15,000 UK exporters.

“Not only will this help to support jobs throughout the UK but it will also be a solid foundation for us to build an even stronger trading relationship with Switzerland as we leave the EU,” Fox said.

The deal simplifies trade and allows businesses in both countries to continue trading freely after Brexit without any additional tariffs, as is currently the case as part of EU membership.

A spokesperson for the Department for International Trade said: “Our priority is to avoid disruption to our global trading relationships as we leave the European Union and we are seeking continuity for existing free trade agreements.” </s> LONDON, Feb 11 — Britain and Switzerland will sign an agreement today to continue trading on preferential terms after Brexit, the British trade department said, protecting a trade relationship worth £32 billion (RM168.4 billion).

The formal signing of the deal, on which agreement had previously been announced, is one of only handful of concrete steps Britain has made towards ensuring that all the trade deals it currently benefits from as an EU member will continue after it leaves the bloc next month.

“Not only will this help to support jobs throughout the UK but it will also be a solid foundation for us to build an even stronger trading relationship with Switzerland as we leave the EU,” International Trade minister Liam Fox said in a statement.

The deal reflects Switzerland's “mind the gap” strategy of ensuring seamless trade ties with Britain, regardless of whether London is able to strike and approve a formal exit agreement with Brussels by March 29, the date it is scheduled to leave.

Britain has reached an impasse in its last-minute renegotiation of an exit deal that it agreed with the EU last year but that was overwhelmingly rejected by the British parliament in January.

The government said last month it expects Britain will have most of the agreements it needs to replicate existing trade deals between the EU and third countries ready by the end of March.

A similar continuity agreement has been announced with Israel, and “mutual recognition” deals have been agreed with Australia and New Zealand.

But the head of the Confederation of British Industry, Carolyn Fairbairn, said yesterday the “unfolding nightmare” of Britain's exit meant that major trade partners like Japan and South Korea were reluctant to sign deals until they knew the exact shape of future EU-Britain ties.

“It will be the decisions that businesses take about jobs and investment — and they will reduce them — so you have less potential to trade globally, that will mean less investment in the future and that will mean fewer jobs in the future,” she told Sky News. — Reuters </s> International Trade Secretary Liam Fox put pen to paper on the deal in the Swiss capital Bern yesterday, saying the agreement provides a “solid foundation” for a post-Brexit trading relationship. The Brexiter is under pressure to keep up the success with just 46 days to go until Britain is due to walk away from Brussels. Trade with Switzerland, which participates in the EU’s single market but is not a full member of bloc, is worth about £32 billion a year to the British economy and the deal means the UK will continue to operate on Brussels’s terms until a free trade agreement is signed.

Dr Fox praised his Swiss counterparts for working with Britain to get the deal agreed before Brexit Day. He said: “Switzerland is one of the most valuable trading partners that we are seeking continuity for. "This is of huge economic importance to UK businesses so I'm delighted to be here in Bern ensuring continuity for 15,000 British exporters. "Not only will this help to support jobs throughout the UK but it will also be a solid foundation for us to build an even stronger trading relationship with Switzerland as we leave the EU."

The government is coming under increased scrutiny to make sure trade continues uninterrupted with time running out before the UK leaves the EU on March 29. Yesterday, the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) director-general Carolyn Fairbairn labelled the current situation is an “emergency”. Mrs Fairbairn highlighted the particular importance of Britain securing continuity of the EU’s recently signed deal with Japan. She told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “The prospect is the day after Brexit those deals will disappear.”

The government is working to roll over existing free trade deals and has so far signed mutual recognition agreements with Australia and Japan. Switzerland joins Chile, the Faroe Islands and parts of Southern and Eastern Africa which have been signed up to continuity agreements. However the future relationship with dozens of countries across the rest of the globe, including the world’s biggest economies the US, China and the EU is still far from clear. The CBI has also said about 40 trade deals across five continents are at risk of evaporating if the Department for Trade cannot secure a transition before Brexit. CBI president John Allen, who is also chairman of Tesco, echoed Mrs Fairbairn’s warning. </s> The UK reached an agreement with Switzerland that will allow it to continue trade without any additional tariffs after it leaves the European Union (EU).

[LONDON] The UK reached an agreement with Switzerland that will allow it to continue trade without any additional tariffs after it leaves the European Union (EU).

The deal means the nations can avoid having to trade under World Trade Organization terms, and eliminates duties on most goods traded between the UK and Switzerland, according to a statement on Monday. The British car sector could avoid up to £8 million (S$14 million) a year in tariff charges under the agreement, it said.

"Switzerland is one of the most valuable trading partners that we are seeking continuity for, accounting for more than £32 billion worth of trade a year," Trade Secretary Liam Fox said.

"Not only will this help to support jobs throughout the UK but it will also be a solid foundation for us to build an even stronger trading relationship with Switzerland as we leave the EU." </s> LONDON (BLOOMBERG) - The United Kingdom has reached an agreement with Switzerland that will allow it to continue trade without any additional tariffs after it leaves the European Union.

The deal means the nations can avoid having to trade under World Trade Organisation terms and eliminates duties on most goods traded between the UK and Switzerland, according to a statement Monday. The British automotive sector could avoid up to 8 million pounds (S$14 million) a year in tariff charges under the agreement, it said.

"Switzerland is one of the most valuable trading partners that we are seeking continuity for, accounting for more than 32 billion pounds worth of trade a year," Trade Secretary Liam Fox said.

"Not only will this help to support jobs throughout the UK but it will also be a solid foundation for us to build an even stronger trading relationship with Switzerland as we leave the EU." </s> The government will today sign a trade deal with Switzerland, heralded as the most significant such agreement in the run-up to Brexit.

The deal, known as a trade continuity agreement, will guarantee future trading terms between the two countries once the UK has left the EU.

It will be signed, in the Swiss city of Bern, by International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and the Swiss Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin.

The agreement is designed to remove the threat of additional tariffs in trade between the two countries and to also to lift the possibility of additional duties on "the vast majority of goods".

The government says that "trading on these preferential terms", as opposed to sticking to the terms of the World Trade Organisation, "will deliver significant savings and help to safeguard British jobs".

It is claimed that the deal will, for instance, avoid around £8m of tariffs being added to the price of cars exported from the UK to Switzerland, while British consumers will benefit from lowers prices on Swiss goods, "such as clocks, watches and pharmaceutical products".

The trade between the two countries is reckoned to be worth more than £32bn per year, making this the biggest agreement signed since the UK voted to leave the European Union.

Previous deals have been signed with Chile, Israel and the Faroe Islands, but critics have claimed that too little progress has been made in securing agreements with vital trading partners.

Britain has long traded around the world under the terms of deals agreed by the European Union, a procedure that will come to an end after Brexit.

Dr Fox has been leading the process of either "rolling over" these deals - by mirroring their terms in new agreements bespoke to the UK - or negotiating fresh deals.

The EU has 40 agreements, covering trade with 71 different countries, that would need to be rolled over. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, these would need to be completed by 29 March, an ambition that many in British business now believe to be almost impossible.

Dr Fox says he has had assurances of support from dozens of countries around the world, but has so far only signed a handful of agreements. In particular, there are few signs of progress in negotiating deals with big trading partners such as Japan, South Korea and Canada.

Dr Fox arrived in Zurich last night on a flight from Dubai. He had been attending an international trade conference in the United Arab Emirates, where he encouraged British businesses to "look beyond Europe".

He has faced growing criticism for failing to sign more deals, and for appearing to criss-cross the globe to little effect. Last month, Dr Fox was accused of having "extremely low credibility" by the chief executive of Unipart, John Neill. </s> The Government is preparing to sign global deals with the United Arab Emirates and a number of other Gulf nations, the UAE’s economy minister said. Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri said Britain had approached members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. Mansouri gave no further details. He was speaking on a panel at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, and will then be able to strike trade deals independently of the EU. The UK was "looking forward" to a free-trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council, Liam Fox, the UK state secretary for international trade, said during a visit to Dubai for the summit, according to state news agency WAM. The GCC comprises the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. In 2017, trade between the UAE and UK totalled £17.5bn, up 12.3 percent from 2016, according to official figures.

By 2020, the UK government wants that number to increase to about £25bn. Mr Fox said at the summit Britain and Switzerland will sign an agreement to continue trading on preferential terms after Brexit. The agreement will protect £32bn of trade done by Britain. Mr Fox said: "Not only will this help to support jobs throughout the UK but it will also be a solid foundation for us to build an even stronger trading relationship with Switzerland as we leave the EU.” The deal reflects Switzerland's "mind the gap" strategy of ensuring seamless trade ties with Britain, regardless of whether London is able to strike and approve a formal exit agreement with Brussels by March 29, the date it is scheduled to leave.

Britain has reached an impasse in its last-minute renegotiation of an exit deal that it agreed with the EU last year but that was overwhelmingly rejected by the British parliament in January. The government said last month it expects Britain will have most of the agreements it needs to replicate existing trade deals between the EU and third countries ready by the end of March. A similar continuity agreement has been announced with Israel, and 'mutual recognition' deals have been agreed with Australia and New Zealand. But the head of the Confederation of British Industry, Carolyn Fairbairn, said on Sunday the "unfolding nightmare" of Britain's exit meant that major trade partners like Japan and South Korea were reluctant to sign deals until they knew the exact shape of future EU-Britain ties. She told Sky News: "It will be the decisions that businesses take about jobs and investment - and they will reduce them - so you have less potential to trade globally, that will mean less investment in the future and that will mean fewer jobs in the future.” </s> LONDON (Reuters) - Business leaders expressed growing alarm on Thursday as a draft Brexit agreement seen as the only chance of preserving some stability in UK-EU trading threatened to unravel, sending stock prices and the pound plunging.

Just 12 hours after British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that her cabinet had agreed to the terms of the draft agreement, Brexit minister Dominic Raab and work and pensions minister Esther McVey quit, saying they could not support it.

Their departures and those of other, junior ministers, revived the spectre for business of Britain leaving the European Union without a deal next March, and sent shares in British housebuilders, retailers and banks tumbling.

"The political situation remains uncertain," German carmaker BMW said in a statement. "We must therefore continue to prepare for the worst-case scenario, which is what a no-deal Brexit would represent.

"We continue to call on all sides to work towards a final agreement which maintains the truly frictionless trade on which our international production network is based."

The European Union is Britain's biggest trading partner, accounting for 44 percent of UK exports and 53 percent of imports to the UK.

After 45 years of membership, industries including defence, cars and aerospace have created intricate supply chains that rely on smooth, "just-in-time" delivery of thousands of parts across the sea that divides Britain from the continent.

Business leaders fear that the country could stumble towards a no-deal Brexit where border checks block ports and fracture the supply chains that support the likes of Rolls-Royce

Karen Betts, the head of the Scotch Whisky Association, said a no-deal Brexit would cause "considerable difficulties" for the industry and increase cost and complexity. It accounts for around 20 percent of all UK food and drink exports.

A senior executive at one of Britain's biggest banks said this was the most disastrous government he had ever seen.

"The rest of the world is looking at us and laughing. It is time to have some stability so business can get some certainty. This is what the country needs."

Industry bosses who had been briefed on the draft agreement by ministers late on Wednesday had broadly welcomed it as the best chance of a compromise that would secure a transition period and avert the chaos of no deal at all.

May's office also released statements from a number of major companies such as Diageo

"Most business people ultimately are pragmatists and this is about playing the cards we have been dealt rather than wishing for a better hand," Roger Carr, chairman of BAE Systems, told BBC Radio.

Iain Anderson, executive chairman of public affairs firm Cicero, which represents many finance companies, said although most executives did not like May's deal they realised it was now the only game in town.

"Business is watching with horror the resignations now taking place," he said. "Yesterday we had a plan and stability and today we do not.

"There is now no time to negotiate another deal. We thought we had stability - now we have instability writ large."

The UK chief of German industrial group Siemens , which employs 15,000 people in the UK, reiterated his call to get behind the draft agreement even as senior politicians called for May to quit.

"We hope all sides keep calm, look at the facts, and move to support this draft to provide UK business with greater certainty," Juergen Maier said in an emailed statement.

Even if May survives, her chances of winning a vote in parliament to approve the draft agreement are seen as slim.

Lawmakers across the political spectrum have said May's deal will leave Britain bound by EU rules without having any say. Many have argued it will also damage the integrity of the United Kingdom by aligning Northern Ireland with the rest of the EU in order to avoid a hard border with EU-member Ireland.

Many executives spoken to by Reuters were trying to guess what could happen next, either a national election, a second referendum or the extension of the negotiating period.

One senior executive at a FTSE 100 company was still holding out hope however that lawmakers would eventually be persuaded to vote for the deal when it comes before parliament before the end of the year.

"We're going to need the market to throw up and scare them all into voting for it," he said. The pound was down 1.8 percent against the dollar in early evening trading.

The CEO of French outdoor advertising company JCDecaux , which runs London's bus-shelter advertising and makes 10 percent of its sales in Britain, called the situation "obviously very serious".

"Today's events reinforce the uncertainties in the market," Jean-Charles Decaux told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an industry conference in Barcelona.

Martin Sorrell, ex-CEO and founder of ad agency group WPP and one of Britain's best-known businessmen, said the country was in a state. "The situation this morning saps the confidence of the City and the country," he told Reuters.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. </s> The United Kingdom government on Thursday offered its advice to businesses and the general public in the event that no deal is reached with the European Union on the country's withdrawal from the bloc.

The Conservative government of Theresa May released 25 documents, dubbed "technical notes," containing "practical" instructions for businesses and citizens covering topics including banking, medicine, nuclear research, labor rights and farming.

"They are designed to inform people and businesses in the UK about what they may need to do, if we don't reach a deal with the EU," said minister for exiting the EU, Dominic Raab. "They are part of a common sense approach to planning for a no deal Brexit."

Raab said the government's "top priority" was to reach a good deal with the EU during the ongoing negotiations but it was "ready to deliver Brexit for the British people if there is no deal."

The minister said the goal would be to maintain a close trade relationship with the bloc, strengthen security cooperation and maintain initiatives such as student exchanges.

He said achieving a good deal was "the most likely outcome."

London and Brussels were still in the negotiations phase, with key issues like the bilateral trade and the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland still to be agreed upon.

The UK is set to leave the EU in March 2018 after a referendum held in June 2016 saw the public narrowly voting in favor of such a move.
The United Kingdom and Switzerland sign a trade continuity agreement to maintain current trade relations post-Brexit.