US, UK can’t have trade deal before Brexit starts: Kerry

Secretary of State John Kerry has said the US and the UK can have no trade deal until Britain completely withdraws from the European Union.

It would be “physically impossible” for Britain to strike a trade pact with Washington till it leaves the bloc, Kerry said in London on Tuesday during a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

On June 23, some 52 percent (17.4 million) of British people voted in a referendum to leave the EU after 43 years of membership, while roughly 48 percent (16.14 million) of people voted to stay in the union.

The vote has had different political and economic repercussions and sent economic shockwaves through Britain as well as global financial markets.

Johnson also said that the US and the UK cannot strike any trade deal before his country’s exist from block is completed.

“Though clearly you can begin to pencil things in, you can’t ink them in, and that’s entirely right and proper,” Johnson said.

Kerry and Johnson made the remarks after they said “special relationship” between their respective countries would continue in spite of the Brexit vote.

On June 27, Kerry said the US will maintain special relationship with the UK in the wake Brexit.

“I think it is absolutely essential that we stay focused on how, in this transitional period, nobody loses their head, nobody goes off half-cocked, people don't start ginning up scatterbrain or revengeful premises,” he said.

SS