The UK yesterday signed a free-trade deal with Singapore, giving it a key foothold in Asia as it seeks to forge its own path after leaving the EU, while talks on a post-Brexit deal stumble.
The agreement largely replicates an existing EU-Singapore pact, with the city-state saying it would cover more than ￡17 billion (US$22.6 billion) in trade.
It removes tariffs, gives both countries access to each other’s markets in services, and cuts non-tariff barriers in electronics, vehicle and auto parts, pharmaceutical products, medical devices and renewable energy generation, the Singaporean Ministry for Trade and Industry said.
Photo: Reuters
Duties would be eliminated by November 2024, the same timeline as the agreement between the EU and Singapore, a former British colony that maintains close links with London.
As the deal was signed in the city-state, British Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss praised Singapore for its leadership on free trade.
“Now the United Kingdom is back as an independent trading nation, we are free to join this campaign,” she said.
“Singapore is already the UK’s largest trade and investment partner in ASEAN, while the UK is Singapore’s top investment destination in Europe,” she said.
Singaporean Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing (陳振聲) said the deal “provides British businesses a platform to access opportunities in the region through Singapore.”
Truss said the agreement would take the UK a step closer to joining a massive free-trade zone, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, of which Singapore is a member.
The pact groups 11 Pacific Rim nations, among them Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico and Vietnam. A previous version of the deal was once championed by the US, but US President Donald Trump abandoned it.
Britain signed its first major post-Brexit trade deal with Japan in October, but yesterday’s agreement is its first with an ASEAN member.
The 10-country bloc is home to 650 million people and — prior to the COVID-19 pandemic — had enjoyed rapid economic growth in the past few years.
Yesterday’s signing came after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave themselves until Sunday to decide on the future of post-Brexit negotiations, following a three-hour dinner that left the two sides “far apart.”
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