Britain’s WTO deal could Take years.

[Jimgward]

UK signals failure of bid for quick Brexit transition at WTO

Britain signalled on Thursday that its attempt to seal terms for its post-Brexit membership of the World Trade Organization by a fast-track procedure had failed, and it must now enter negotiations which are likely to be lengthy.

This followed objections raised by a number of other WTO states, International Trade Minister Liam Fox said.
Britain is a full member of the WTO, but its terms are bound up with those of the European Union, and it needs to have an independent membership document that sets out the terms of its trade after leaving the bloc in March 2019.

Fox had tried to use a rapid "rectification" for a seamless transition, essentially copying and pasting the EU text into a new WTO agreement covering the United Kingdom. Other countries in the 164-member WTO had three months to raise objections, a deadline which passed this week.

"As expected, some trading partners have expressed reservations about our proposed treatment of Tariff Rate Quotas," Fox said in a written statement to the British parliament, referring to trading rights granted to major agricultural exporters.

Fox did not name the objectors but he will have to switch to "modification" of the British WTO agreement, giving other countries the right to negotiate and demand concessions from London, which could take years.

[Jim B]

I read another article yesterday saying that Russia was putting forward an official objection to the WTO rejecting the UKs request to set its own Tarriffs leaving the UK in the position of having to negotiate each one individually; looks like payback time.

Jim