How easy would it really be for the UK to do trade deals with emerging markets after Brexit?

Analysis: The prospects of striking agreements with nations such as Brazil, India and China are not as rosy as Brexiteers suggest, says economics editor Ben Chu

A glance at Liam Fox’s Twitter feeds shows he remains upbeat on our prospects for emerging market trade deals. But is that reasonable? (AP)

In 2017 Liam Fox famously claimed that concluding a trade deal with the European Union after Brexit would be the “easiest in human history” because we’d start from a position of already being fully aligned on tariffs and regulation.

Such bullishness is notable by its absence now.

Indeed, one of the reasons Brexiteers are so alarmed by the Irish “backstop” provision of the withdrawal agreement is that even they doubt that there will be a free trade agreement between the UK and the EU in place by January 2021 when the transition is supposed to end.