The British Department of International Trade said on December 27th local time that the United Kingdom and Turkey will sign a free trade agreement on the 29th, which is the first free trade agreement signed between the United Kingdom and the European Union after the post-Brexit transition trade agreement reached this month.
According to Reuters on the 28th, the agreement between the United Kingdom and Turkey will replicate the existing terms of trade between the two countries, but the British Secretary of State for International Trade Elizabeth Truss said on the 27th that she hoped that the two countries would reach a customized agreement as soon as possible.
“We look forward to the duty-free trade agreement with Turkey this week, which will help maintain the trade relationship between our two countries, and will also provide thousands of jobs in the British manufacturing, automobile and steel industries.” “We look forward to working with Turkey to reach a trade agreement tailored to Britain and Turkey in the near future,” Truss said in a statement.
According to the report, the trade volume between Britain and Turkey in 2019 was 18.6 billion pounds, which is the fifth largest trade agreement reached by the United Kingdom after reaching agreements with Japan, Canada, Switzerland and Norway.
Before the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31 this year, the United Kingdom had signed trade agreements with 62 countries.
According to previous media reports, on December 24th local time, just one week before the deadline for the transition period of Brexit, the United Kingdom and the European Union finally reached an agreement on the post-Brexit trade issue.
