Britain is keen to take advantage of its exit from the European Union to conclude international agreements, and during Boris Johnson’s term, it was announced that a wide range of agreements had been signed with countries outside the bloc.
Former British environment minister George Eustice said this week that the deal Liz Terrace struck last year with Australia when she was trade minister “gave too much for too little in return”.
Sunak told parliamentarians Thursday that he would only agree to any deal if he felt it was worthwhile, after he discussed the issue with world leaders during the G20 summit this week in Bali.
“I met Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and we presented the progress of the upcoming free trade agreement (FTA),” he told the House of Commons.
He said he also discussed Britain’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership with the prime ministers of Japan, Canada and Australia.
“When it comes to trade agreements, with whoever it is, what I will not do is sacrifice quality for speed,” Sunak said.
“It is important that we take the time to get the trade agreements right,” he added.
However, Sunak noted that “there is great enthusiasm” among the leaders of the “Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement” about the possibility of Britain joining, and “we will continue to conclude those negotiations as soon as possible.”
Britain has formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, whose 11 members’ global GDP accounted for 13.4 percent last year.
Talks are also underway with India on a bilateral agreement, although there is some opposition within the British government over the number of visas that London will offer Indian nationals as part of the deal.
However, it seems that the prospects for an imminent agreement with the United States are relatively distant, given the current political situation in Washington, as Britain focuses instead on concluding agreements with the US states individually.
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