By TruePublica: The Government, through Liam Fox,
promised that 40 EU free trade deals with 70 countries will still apply
under a No-Deal Brexit. With little more than six weeks to go before
Theresa May’s next big gamble with UKplc, Liam Fox’s inadequacy and
inexperience in matters of international trade and business are laid
bare.
Fox actually said he could “rollover 40 current EU free trade deals
with 70 different countries”, so they will still apply to the UK under a
no deal Brexit. He was wrong. Liam Fox is not a professional trade
negotiator or economist and has never negotiated national trade deals in
the past for anyone, let alone a country. What qualifies Liam Fox for
this role has baffled many.
His own department has since dismissed the idea that trade deals can be rolled-over. That’s because they can’t. The minutes of his own meeting read: ‘DIT
(Department of International Trade) said there was confidence that some
of those agreements could be signed ahead of exit date, although it was
unlikely they would all be signed. This being so, there would not be
continuity from day one of EU exit.’
