UK hopes for early free trade deal with Australia after leaving EU


FE Team | Published: February 06, 2020 11:20:16 | Updated: February 13, 2020 13:15:58


Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is seen at Downing Street in London, Britain, January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he hopes a free trade deal with Australia will be one of the first agreements secured now that Britain has left the European Union.

Britain formally left the EU on Jan 31, entering a transition period which will allow it to negotiate its future relationship with Brussels and begin talks with other major economies such as the United States and Japan, reports Reuters.

“We have a trade relationship already worth 17 billion pounds ($22.07 billion) but we have the potential to do so much more,” Raab told reporters in Canberra.

“Australia hopefully will part of that first wave of high priority deals that we are pursuing.”

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