Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice has said the single-currency eurozone is “destined to fail” and that to ensure the future prosperity of Brexit Britain, the country must strengthen trade relationships with the rest of the world.
Mr Tice made the comments in response to a report in City A.M. that the economy of the eurozone — the monetary union of 19 of the 28 EU member states with its currency, the euro — has slowed, whilst Germany’s economy, the strongest in Europe, continues to weaken.
IHS Markit said that the EU’s manufacturing saw a “notable and accelerated fall in manufacturing production during July”, while Germany is suffering from “a rapidly deteriorating manufacturing economy” and its purchasing managers’ index (PMI) is at a six-year low.
The Brexit Party chairman said of the report: “The eurozone makes no economic sense and is destined to fail. It is absolutely imperative for the future prosperity of the UK that we retake control of our own trade policy and forge new relationships across the globe.
“We’ve seen positive signals from Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. just in the past week. It’s time we get on and do it.”
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab is on a charm offensive to “fire up” post-Brexit trade, travelling to the United States, Canada, and Mexico on a three day tour, arriving in Toronto, Canada, on Tuesday.
Mr Raad said: “I’m determined that we fire up our economic relationships with non-European partners.
“That means working with them now to ensure a smooth transition of our trading arrangements after Brexit and means quickly moving to wide ranging trade deals that boost business, lower prices for consumers and respect our high standards.”
Travelling to the U.S. on Wednesday, Mr Raab’s plans have already received a boost from Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who along with 44 other senators pledged to back the UK as she prepares to leave the EU.
The GOP senators wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson that in a no deal, they will “advocate for a new bilateral trade agreement, as early as your Brexit terms would allow, that reflects the centuries of open commerce between our nations”.
Last week, the White House said that the administration was looking to “deepen and expand” its trade relationship with the UK, after President Donald Trump revealed that his team is already working on a bilateral trade deal with Prime Minister Johnson which he said would boost British-American trade by up to five times its current level.
The Department for International Trade said in a statement Tuesday that a “future UK-U.S. free trade agreement is top of [Secretary of State for International Trade] Liz Truss’s agenda as she travels to Washington this morning. This deal has the potential to strengthen our trading relationship and boost jobs and growth throughout the whole of the UK.”
Anglophile U.S. ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson responded to the prospect with: “Let’s think big, be bold and be ready to capitalise on the opportunities that lie ahead of us!”
Prime Minister Johnson’s team is also focusing on trade deals with other friends and members of the Commonwealth, with Mr Raab having travelled to Thailand to meet with representatives of 10 South East Asian countries to discuss post-Brexit trade, saying before the trip:”For too long, our trade focus has been on Europe. We need to expand our horizons, and raise our game. That means grasping the enormous global opportunities for the UK.”
“This region is already worth 36 billion pounds ($43.80 billion) per year in trade with the UK — and there are opportunities for us to boost that trade to benefit UK businesses and consumers,” he added.
While Australia’s trade minister said last week there could be a UK-Aussie trade deal within “weeks of Brexit” and New Zealand is set to talk trade when Britain is ready.
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