UK and Turkey sign post-Brexit free trade agreement

Trade between the two countries was worth more than $25 billion in 2019

Britain's Secretary of State of International Trade Liz Truss said increased trade would help the UK build back better from Covid-19. Reuters

Turkey and Britain signed a free-trade agreement on Tuesday as the UK prepared to leave the European Union's economic orbit at the start of the new year.

The deal, which will come into effect on January 1, aims to support trade between the two countries, which was worth more than $25 billion in 2019.

It is one of many post-Brexit trade deals the British government is pursuing with nations around the world and came days after the UK finalised a trade agreement with the EU.

The UK left the EU on January 31 of this year but remained subject to the bloc's business regulations and within its customs union during a transition period that ends on December 31.

Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan and Dominick Chilcott, the British ambassador to Turkey, signed the British-Turkish agreement.

Ms Pekcan hailed the deal as the most significant trade pact for Turkey since the signing of a customs union agreement with the EU in 1995.

“The free trade agreement is a new and special milestone in the relationship between Turkey and United Kingdom,” she said during the ceremony. Britain is Turkey’s second-largest export market.

A British government statement said the deal would secure existing preferential tariffs for some 7,600 British businesses that exported goods to Turkey in 2019, ensuring the continued tariff-free flow of goods.

Both countries said the deal would lead to a more comprehensive agreement in the future.