UK would like to reach trade agreement with U.S. by mid-next year, says minister

[September 28, 2020]  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain would like to reach a trade agreement with the United States by the middle of next year but such a date is not a firm deadline, trade minister Liz Truss said on Monday.

The U.S. flag flies at the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, U.S. July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake

"We've pretty much laid all the text on both sides. We are now in a position of consolidating those texts, so if you like that's laying the foundations of the deal," Truss told an event by the Spectator magazine.

"Of course we'd like to make as much progress as we can in advance of the U.S. election ... so that we can try to realise the benefits as quickly as possible," she said, adding that U.S. Trade Promotion Authority is due to expire in the middle of next year "so that is an important point to reach an agreement by".

(Reporting by William James, writing by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Michael Holden)

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