After the UK voted to leave the EU, the country faces the prospect of having to establish new trade relationships – both with the remaining 27 EU members and other countries around the world.
As a member of the EU, the UK has been included in trade deals the EU has negotiated. There are 22 trade agreements between the EU and individual countries, and five multi-lateral agreements covering multiple countries.
This means that if the UK wants to retain preferential access to the markets of the 52 countries covered by these agreements, it would have to renegotiate trade deals with all of them.
Britain is a large market, so there is a clear incentive for other countries to negotiate a deal. Advocates of Brexit argued that it would be in nobody’s interest to interrupt the current trading partnerships.
But which of the other models discussed as potential post-Brexit options for the UK are realistic?
