To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2018 to Question 133617 on UK Trade With EU, how many of the third countries have (a) agreed to continue their obligations mutatis mutandis and (b) proposed changes to their agreements which would take effect at any later date.
Answered on
18 April 2018
The Government's priority is securing continuity for our existing international agreements, including EU trade agreements, as we leave the EU.
The agreement reached between the UK and the EU at the March European Council sets out that the UK is to be treated as a Member State for the purposes of its international agreements during the Implementation Period.
We are also engaging with partner countries on individual trade agreements, which will come into force following the Implementation Period and will lay the foundations for deeper future relationships. None of the over 70 nations with which we have held discussions have any interest in disrupting trade flows, or erecting barriers where none currently exist.