The British government has expressed its hopes of signing a trade deal with Turkey ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period, when the UK quits the EU’s trading arrangements.
London and Ankara will clinch a new deal that is set to mirror the current trading terms as soon as this week. However, British trade minister Liz Truss is hopeful to renegotiate those terms soon.
“The deal we expect to sign this week locks in tariff-free trading arrangements and will help support our trading relationship. It will provide certainty for thousands of jobs across the UK in the manufacturing, automotive, and steel industries,” she said.
“We now look forward to working with Turkey towards an ambitious tailor-made UK-Turkey trade agreement in the near future.”
In 2019, the trade turnover between the two nations reportedly totaled £18.6 billion ($25.25 billion). That was the fifth-biggest trade deal the UK has negotiated, after agreements with Japan, Canada, Switzerland, and Norway, according to the ministry.
The UK has renegotiated 62 agreements to support post-Brexit cross-border trade with its partners ahead of January 1, when the transition period is over. Last week, the nation signed one of the most anticipated agreements with its biggest partner, the EU.
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