Politicians in US, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea push for new UK trade deals after Brexit
Politicians in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea are keen to secure new trade deals with the UK as it prepares to leave the European Union.
In the US, speaker of the house Paul Ryan has said: “We need to emphasise that they are our indispensable ally, we have a special relationship, and I think that does mean we should have a trade agreement with England – with Great Britain.
“That is something we should begin discussions with Great Britain to ease concerns so that we do have a smooth trade relationship with Great Britain because they are our indispensable ally.”
Read more: UK will have to wait until after Brexit to strike new trade deals
The quotes, given in an interview, were published on the speaker's website.
He is also quoted saying: “We would probably want to put together our own trade agreement with Great Britain, which would be easier to do actually. We’re in talks with Europe on something we call TTIP, but I think we should do a parallel track of Great Britain – United Kingdom, excuse me – United Kingdom trade agreement while we talk with Europe about TTIP. It’s very important that we maintain our very strong alliance with England.”
The prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand, meanwhile, have said they will work together to make new arrangements with the UK post-Brexit.
According to ABC, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said he will team up with his New Zealand counterpart John Key to negotiate.
"We have many, many common interests in terms of dealing with that, both from a trade point of view, from a movement of persons point of view," he is quoted saying.
"There are some big issues in terms of the access of Australians and New Zealanders to Europe and indeed to the United Kingdom."
Read more: Obama must nail down his free trade deals before the protectionist takeover
Business secretary Sajid Javid has also revealed that politicians from Australia and South Korea have been in contact to call for “immediate talks on trade deals with the UK”.
Javid also said that he would be visiting overseas markets including China, Hong Kong and Brazil in the coming months and “reminding firms there that the UK is still very much open for business, just as before”.
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