Fox bullish about agreeing trade deals before end of Brexit transition
The International Trade Secretary says he expects to have agreements in place long before the end of the transition period.
Sunday 1 October 2017 21:14, UK
Britain expects to have free trade deals on the table long before the end of the Brexit transition period, according to a senior minister.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox was bullish about the prospects of reaching agreements in time for the end of the implementation period, which is expected to come into effect in March 2019.
Prime Minister Theresa May used her keynote Brexit speech in Florence last month to further flesh out her vision for leaving the EU, including a transition period of two years to allow firms to prepare.
When asked at a Conservative party conference fringe event if Britain would be in a position to have trade agreements ready to enforce at the end of this process, Dr Fox said: "We expect to have draft agreements long before that with a number of countries.
"We want the EU transitional ones done by 2019 and then at that point we want to see the United States, Australia and New Zealand which are the priority ones."
Dr Fox also addressed the trade dispute , with the minister saying: "This is basically a US-Canada dispute. Our view is it would be much better if it is settled between those and it doesn't move forward."
The US has hit Canadian firm Bombardier with a punitive import duty of nearly 220% on a new model of passenger jet, the wings for which are made in Northern Ireland, threatening thousands of jobs there.
Dr Fox said the dispute, which centres around claims Bombardier received unfair state subsidies, was a "long way from resolution".
When asked if he was striking a different tone to Cabinet colleagues who have threatened retaliation against Boeing, Dr Fox said the Government would "make the appropriate noises in the appropriate places and they won't always be the same noises in the same place".
Dr Fox also criticised the media for what he viewed as talking down Britain in the Brexit negotiations, saying the UK would become a much more agile trading country once it severs ties with Brussels.
Britain will have the opportunity to negotiate its own bespoke free trade deals with countries around the world.
The UK can hold talks with other countries to lay the groundwork for post-Brexit free trade deals, but it cannot officially sign them until it has left.
Mrs May has been criticised for previously saying the EU's agreements with Japan and Canada can act as the starting point for future pacts with Britain.
Critics and had reduced the role of Dr Fox to being "left in a room with a photocopier".