Has Britain negotiated with any other countries outside the EU in preparation for the exit?

Question

Regarding Brexit, the prospect of a no deal has existed since the moment it has begun. I have been unable to find anything from my own research

The question is straightforward enough, has any negotiation such as trade or negotiation, for example, been done with countries outside of the EU in preparation for the probably/possible departure from the EU?

If the answer is no and there is a non speculative reason please provide the source.

If yes what kind of negotiations with foreign countries has been done?

Answer 1

Yes, negotiations are proceeding with non-EU countries. The BBC reported on the 21st of February that trade deals had been concluded to continue the terms of existing EU deals with

• Israel (signed 18 February)
• Palestinian Authority (18 February)
• Switzerland (11 February)
• The Faroe Islands (1 February)
• Eastern and Southern Africa (31 January)
• Chile (30 January)

According to a written statement to the House of Commons from Dr Liam Fox (Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade) deals with Fiji and Papua New Guinea were expected to be transitioned in time for the 29th of March, while deals with at least Andorra, Japan, Turkey, and San Marino were not expected to conclude in time. This also reports that

Particularly intensive discussions are, for instance, happening now with partners such as SACU+M, EEA, Canada and South Korea.

Answer 2

As of 13th February Liam Fox has managed to negotiate 7 international trade deals.

Liam Fox, has so far only managed to secure deals with seven of the 69 countries that the UK currently trades with under preferential EU free trade agreements, which will end after Brexit.

The article goes into details, but the seven countries are Switzerland, Chile, Faroe Islands, Mauritius, Seychelles, Zimbabwe and Madagascar.

For non-speculative reasons that Trade Deals have not yet been signed are expanded on in this article; Human Rights Reductions and this one; Additional Concessions to Japan

Human Rights

“Some countries have said that they didn’t like, for example, the human rights elements that were incorporated by the EU and they would like us to drop those in order to roll the agreements over,” Fox said while answering questions in parliament on his department’s progress towards striking trade deals.

Japan

Japanese trade negotiators are confident they can extract better terms, the Financial Times reported, in a sign of the mounting difficulties facing UK officials as they attempt to line up post-Brexit trade deals around the world.

Answer 3

The United States and the United Kingdom have reached an agreement regarding the multi-trillion dollar derivatives market.

“As hosts of the world’s largest and most sophisticated derivative markets, the US and UK have special responsibilities to keep their markets resilient, efficient and open.

“The measures we are announcing today will do that. Market participants can be confident that the clearing and trading of derivatives between the UK and US will maintain the high standards of today when the UK leaves the EU.”