Liam Fox will have less than three months to negotiate free trade agreements between the conclusion of withdrawal negotiations and Brexit day

Britain will have only weeks to negotiate deals with dozens of countries after the European Union refused to help to extend any existing trade agreements before the legally binding signing of a Brexit withdrawal treaty.

European officials have told the government that they will not ask the EU’s trading partners to allow Britain to benefit from current trade deals with key countries such as Japan or South Korea until Theresa May signs the final legal text of a Brexit deal.

The decision means that Liam Fox, the trade secretary, will have less than three months between the conclusion of withdrawal negotiations at an EU summit in December and Brexit day, March 29, 2019, to negotiate the continuation of Britain’s current free trade agreements. Without the