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“We’ve got talks underway with many countries,” Johnson said in an LBC Radio interview ahead of the U.K.'s upcoming general election. “I can’t give the answer as to how many deals are actually formalized.”
Pressed further, the prime minister said: “There are a number that are virtually ready to go,” and added: “I imagine we have about a dozen that we’re currently working on.”
He named India, China, Australia and New Zealand as countries that the U.K. is in discussions with over future agreements.
“I’m not going to say they are oven-ready because obviously they will need to be concluded,” Johnson said. “Because of the duty of sincere cooperation that we have with the EU, we cannot now conclude those deals because we’re still members.”
Johnson singled out China, saying: “The U.K. is geographically closer to China than New Zealand is to Beijing, and yet we export hardly any, if any, lamb.” [...]