The United Kingdom signed its first major free trade agreement since Brexit with a country with which the European Union does not have a similar treaty: an agreement was signed with Australia. It is hoped that this will lead to an increase in bilateral trade in the future by ten billion pounds (one pound 432.47 fort) and the abolition of tariffs and the opening of new sectors for both sides.
Even more important is agriculture, where duty-free Australian wine and beef can now be transported to the UK within a set quota, while Australian tariffs previously applied to British cars, whiskey, sweets and cosmetics will be scrapped.
Analysts say the deal will bring the British economy £2.3 billion annually.
Foreign trade between the two countries, including services, was £14.5 billion in the year to June, with Australia ranked among the UK’s 21 largest trading partners, accounting for 1 to 2 per cent of the UK’s total foreign trade. In other words, it still lags far behind the European Union, with which London has toughened the debate over the Northern Ireland protocol to the Brexit agreement. This issue is being “frozen” at the moment, and it is expected today that negotiations will continue only next year, but Brussels still allows one of Britain’s most important demands: the relaxation of rules for the transfer of medicines between the two countries. Britain and Northern Ireland. However, this has yet to be approved by the European Parliament and the European Council, and this process can take up to six to nine months.
In addition to the FTA, there was other good news for the UK economy: Thanks to the success of Black Friday, retail sales grew 1.4 per cent and exceeded pre-coronavirus levels in November. According to the Statistics Office, the volume of sales of shops selling clothes, computers, toys and jewelry increased by 2.9 percent and the latter by 2.8 percent, while sales of fuel increased by 3.7 percent, but it is still 1.9 percent. In short, February 2020.
However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson may still have a headache, as his party lost a so far stable Parliament seat to the Conservatives in Thursday’s by-election. To his surprise, the Liberal Democrat candidate won in North Shropshire, and analysts say his victory is a “clear and unmistakable” message to the prime minister, whose authority has sparked a series of political scandals in recent weeks, Sky News analysts say: the final straw, which may Even lead to the downfall of Boris Johnson.
