Business Secretary leaves door open to joining European trade area The Business Secretary has left the door open to joining a tariff-free trading scheme with Europe following a meeting with the EU trade commissioner in Davos.
We can improve the terms of trade with the EU in a way which doesn't revisit customs unions or single markets or the arguments of Brexit, and we can do that whilst pursuing closer trade links around the world.
He added: “We can improve the terms of trade with the EU in a way which doesn’t revisit customs unions or single markets or the arguments of Brexit, and we can do that whilst pursuing closer trade links around the world.”.
Jonathan Reynolds’s meeting with Maros Sefcovic on Thursday came after the trade commissioner suggested Britain could join the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM), which allows for tariff-free trade of goods across Europe, as well as some North African and Levantine nations.
Mr Reynolds also declined to rule out a deal on food and farm products that would involve mirroring EU rules, known as “dynamic alignment”, saying it too did not cross any of the Government’s “red lines” on rejoining the customs union or single market.
