The EU and Britain on Wednesday set out the ways they plan to divide prized agricultural import quotas after Brexit, a highly sensitive topic that has already sparked loud warnings from export powerhouses, including the US. In an effort to avert a bitter feud, the EU and Britain wrote a carefully worded letter to their World Trade Organization (WTO) counterparts saying they were committed to providing “clarity and to work constructively and openly with international partners”. “Both the UK and the EU would like to reassure our WTO partners that we will strive to minimise disruption to trade as the UK leaves the EU,” the letter said. The burgeoning row is over the WTO’s “tariff rate quotas”, a carefully negotiated allotment of trade privileges that are extremely valuable to farming-dependent exporters. The letter was signed by Argentina, New Zealand and the United States, along with Brazil, Canada, Uruguay and Thailand.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 11, 2017 14:03 UTC