BRITAIN, TURKEY TO SIGN FREE TRADE DEAL THIS WEEK

Mon 28 December 2020:

Britain and Turkey are set to sign a free trade deal as soon as Tuesday, the U.K. trade ministry said Sunday, the first since Prime Minister Boris Johnson secured a new trade agreement with the European Union.

The two nations will sign a deal that replicates the existing trading terms between Ankara and London, but British trade minister Liz Truss said she was hopeful a bespoke deal between the countries could be struck 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 U.K. in the manufacturing, automotive and steel industries,” Truss said in a statement.

“We now look forward to working with Turkey toward an ambitious tailor-made U.K.-Turkey trade agreement in the near future.”

The trading relationship was worth 18.6 billion pounds ($25.25 billion) in 2019, and Britain said it was the fifth-biggest trade deal the trade ministry had negotiated after agreements with Japan, Canada, Switzerland and Norway.

Britain has now signed trade agreements with 62 countries ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period on Jan. 1, when it leaves the EU’s trading arrangements.

Turkey welcomed the deal last week and said the preparations for the signing of the free trade agreement (FTA) between the U.K. and Turkey have also reached their final stage.

Major trade partners Ankara and London have been holding a series of talks on the trade deal, which officials recently said was very close to finalization.

Any Turkey-U.K. deal would only be able to take place following an EU-U.K. free trade agreement, as Turkey is a member of the EU Customs Union.