BREXIT
HILARY JOFFE: SA not in a rush for new UK trade deals
‘SA is not exactly exerting itself to gain any new trade benefits’
Britain’s exit from the EU would leave it "free to strike trade deals with old friends and new partners around the world", said UK Prime Minister Theresa May last week as she announced her intention to seek parliament’s approval for a June 8 general election. Will SA take full advantage of the chance to be one of those old friends or new partners? If a speech by Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies to the British Chamber of Commerce last week is anything to go by, SA may not lose any existing trade benefits due to Brexit, but the country is not exactly exerting itself to gain any new ones — a case of trying to minimise the downside rather than maximise the upside. The plan is to roll over the provisions of the European Partnership Agreement (EPA), which SA and its Southern African Customs Union neighbours signed with the EU in 2016, into a bilateral agreement with the UK that will run in parallel. Davies says an understanding has been reached between the governments of SA and the ...
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