UK agrees post-Brexit customs agreement with US
The UK has signed a customs agreement with the US, ensuring trade between the countries is not disrupted after the Brexit transition ends at the end of the month.
The bilateral Customs Assistance Agreement will allow customs authorities to continue to cooperate, including sharing data, to tackle customs fraud.
The agreement was signed by the financial secretary to the Treasury Jesse Norman and US Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson.
“This is an important agreement that ensures continuity post EU exit, and demonstrates the strength of the US-UK customs relationship,” Norman said in a statement. “This deal will allow us to continue to cooperate in combatting customs offences by sharing information and good practice, and provides the legal underpinning for schemes to ease trade flows for importers and exporters.”
It comes a day after international trade secretary Liz Truss announced an agreement with Mexico which will see the two countries continue to trade on the same terms as under the EU-Mexico trade deal.
Truss said the deal is a step toward joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) of which Mexico is a member.
The partnership also includes countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan and Singapore.
The UK will apply to join the trade bloc in early 2021.
Last month Britain secured a rollover deal with Canada with hopes that it will lay the foundations for a UK-Canada trade agreement.