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Britain benefits from about 40 free-trade agreements with 70 nations through its EU membership, and it’s been seeking to extend them after Brexit. Combined, they account for 11 percent of U.K. trade.
“Unfortunately not all of the FTAs -- and I might mention the Japan and Korean ones that are important -- are expected to be concluded in time,” Clark told executives and journalists on Tuesday at the annual conference of the MakeUK manufacturing lobby group. “That is one of the reasons why I think it is so important that we should not leave without a deal.”
The admission throws into stark relief Trade Secretary Liam Fox’s old promise that the deals would be ready at “one second past midnight” after Brexit day.
The two Asian nations buy about 18.6 billion pounds ($24 billion) of British exports a year and send just under 17 billion pounds of imports per year, according to official figures.
‘Unacceptable’
Clark also emphasized that it’s “unacceptable” that exporters to those markets aren’t able to know what their terms of trade will be in under 40 days’ time, and referred to the freight ship Thalassa Mana, which left Felixstowe port in eastern England on Monday and is due to arrive in Osaka, Japan on March 30.
“That is, I know, unacceptable to you and it’s unacceptable for me,” he said, adding that it’s “absolutely essential” for the U.K. to conclude arrangements as soon as possible “and not at the last minute on March 28.” [...]