The bit which includes the 158 countries not in the EU?
About half of whom have a GNP barely matching that of Norwich.
It's the countries we already have trade deals with through the EU which are the most immediate concern, with about two-thirds now covered by continuity deals and representing about three-quarters of our non-EU trade. Japan, for example, is a significant omission, alongside the US. They're not expected to agree to simple continuity deals. It's taken three years to get the easiest ones done, the ones where we do have either advantage or parity.
When the continuity deals we do have start to run out (after the transition period ends in June 2021, or six months sooner if BoJo throws his toys out the pram) we should indeed find some worthwhile gains after longer renegotiations, but countries like South Korea and the Southern African union will be well-placed to take advantage of our relative weakness outside the EU. It's going to be an interesting* decade.
*Hopefully not in the Chinese curse sense.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
