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Now the world, Canada included, is beating a direct path to the United Kingdom. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, after talks this week with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, declared it was imperative that the U.S. move “as fast as possible” to “maximize the economic opportunities” of Brexit. Kerry’s views echoed those of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who, after his own discussions with May, stated: “So as Britain leaves the EU, what we will need to do is negotiate direct arrangements with Britain … we need to get moving on that quickly.”

According to the U.K.’s international trade secretary, Liam Fox, countries are lining up to strike trade deals with the U.K. — Japan, India and China are among those that have informally committed themselves, with some saying they are eager for quick deals. The U.K. has not only become the world’s most eligible free-trade partner; it has also become its most attainable. “We can make Britain a beacon for open trade,” Fox told The Sunday Times. “We have already had a number of countries saying ‘we’d love to do a trade deal with the world’s fifth-biggest economy without having to deal with the other 27 members of the EU.'”

If not for Brexit, and with the possible exception of Canada, none of the many countries eager for U.K. trade would have access to its immense market anytime soon — these potential trading partners have been shut out since 1973, when the U.K. joined the European trading bloc and cut itself off from greater trading opportunities in the rest of the world. Now, less than a month after the Brexit vote, barely a week after a new prime minister has taken the helm, countries large and small are contemplating their access to a British market that had been blocked by tariff walls for almost half a century. Put another way, Brexit has become the biggest impetus to global free trade in more than a generation.