Faisal Islam, Political Editor at Sky News, today reported that
the Trade Secretary Liam Fox is visiting Korea, a key trade partner
of the UK.
I noticed that Islam tweeted what has long been suspected regarding
the possible rollover of the EU-Korea FTA, namely that "the EU
has not and will not write key letter to Seoul and the other dozens
of trade partners asking them to treat UK as a continuing EU member
in transition for purposes of trade until Withdrawal Deal done.
Limbo."
A little background: the EU has an FTA in force with Korea. As a
matter of law, that will cease to apply to the UK when it leaves
the EU on 29 March 2019. Earlier in the year the EU agreed to write
a letter to Korea, and its other FTA partners, requesting that the
UK is treated as a continuing member of the EU during the
transition period into which the UK will move, assuming that a
Withdrawal Agreement can be finalised before 29 March 2019 (which
despite recent blips I think is still
