The United Kingdom has not finalized the majority of the trade deals that it intended to have in place post-Brexit and is nowhere near to doing so, according to a report by the Financial Times on Friday.
The trade deals are meant to replace the European Union's current agreements with major global economies including Canada and Japan. International trade secretary Liam Fox (pictured) had previously promised to replicate the EU's free trade agreements before the UK's departure from the EU, saying that "we’ll have up to 40 ready for one second after midnight in March 2019." However, an internal Whitehall memorandum seen by FT says that that is not the case, with one government official commenting that "almost none of them are ready to go now and none will be ready to go by March."
The UK Parliament opted to reject the current Brexit withdrawal deal in a landmark vote on Tuesday. Prime Minister Theresa May subsequently survived a vote of no-confidence on Wednesday, leaving the future status of Brexit renegotiations unclear.
