The aims of the economic partnership
We want to build a balanced, ambitious and wide-ranging economic partnership with the EU. Recognising the strength of the existing trading relationship between us, which benefit both UK and EU businesses and citizens, as well as the level of integration between our economies, our aim is for the economic partnership to be as close as possible.
The EU is the UK’s largest export market and the UK is the largest goods export market for the EU27 taken as a whole. We have a mutual interest in a close, comprehensive and ambitious economic agreement when the UK leaves the EU.
We start from a position of highly integrated markets, equivalent laws and rules, a shared commitment to high standards and mutual trust. We have complex, cross-border supply chains which rely on businesses in the UK and the EU being able easily to trade across the UK and EU border. We want to ensure that as much of the current ease of trading is preserved and that trade is as free and frictionless as possible, giving UK and EU businesses the maximum freedom to trade with and operate in each other’s markets. That means zero tariffs on goods and minimising non-tariff barriers for both goods and services, as well as supporting effective cooperation in areas like research and innovation.
Recognising the unprecedented closeness of our trading and economic relationship at the point where the implementation period ends, our future economic partnership should be deep and comprehensive, covering all areas of economic cooperation and supporting free and fair trade. It should include industrial goods and agricultural and fisheries products, avoiding the introduction of tariffs and establishing new customs arrangements to minimise frictions at the border.
Our economic partnership should also include services and investment, ensuring the continued recognition of professional qualifications and supporting UK and EU service providers to operate in the UK and the EU. It should establish an ambitious agreement on financial services that provides for market access in the most important areas of cross-border financial services trade. ln addition, the partnership should support our digital sectors to be the forefront of delivering and embracing their new technologies by minimising barriers to digital trade. lt should also cover transport and energy, maintaining connectivity for the benefit of business, consumers and citizens in the UK and the EU.
This bold vision for our future economic partnership based on close cooperation, mutual recognition and trust, will establish a more ambitious and wide-ranging partnership than any existing model.