, Columnist
Boris Johnson Wants to Be a Free Trade Grandmaster
Britain is aiming for quick trade deals with the U.S., the EU, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. None of these gambits is likely to yield a great victory.
Your move.
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It’s an odd paradox of Brexit that having won its trade freedom, the U.K. may find it harder to pursue free trade. The former was an oft-cited objective of Brexit, but the latter has been made a central pillar of Boris Johnson’s desire to create a “Global Britain.”
More than four decades have passed since Britain last negotiated a trade deal, but it now plans to hold up to five sets of trade talks simultaneously. The guiding philosophy, Prime Minister Johnson said last week, is an abiding belief in the value of free trade, which Britain plans to use its negotiations to promote.