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Barclay: UK will publish post-Brexit EU trade objectives next month

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The U.K. government will publish its priorities for a post-Brexit U.K.-EU trade deal soon after January 31, the date on which the U.K. formally leaves the EU, according to U.K. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay.

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Barclay said his government will “publish our objectives for the negotiation … in due course after the 31st.”

Asked by the presenter Andrew Marr about the specific timing, Barclay said “we’ll set more detail out next month in terms of the objectives for the negotiation,” adding that “the objective is to have a zero tariff, zero quota, broadly ambitious trade policy, but to do that in parallel with our talks with the rest of the world. And in particular with the U.S.”

Under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed on Friday, the U.K. will be a part of the EU’s trading bloc until the end of December this year. The U.K. says it wants a comprehensive free-trade agreement to replace its membership of the EU single market by the end of year.

The European Commission is considering the option of negotiating separate, limited deals in four to five sectors, covering trade, fisheries, security and foreign policy as well as transport and aviation. A top aide to EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on Friday confirmed Brussels would prefer to negotiate a full-package trade deal and said the bloc will seek to hammer out an “overarching institutional framework,” with each part of the deal bound together.

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