The UK and Turkey are set to sign a free trade deal on Tuesday, the first since Boris Johnson secured a new trade agreement with the EU.
The two nations have finalised the text of a “continuity agreement” that replicates the existing trading terms between Ankara — which has a customs union agreement with Brussels — and London. Bilateral trade between the countries was worth nearly £19bn last year, according to the department for international trade.
The document is expected to be signed this week by representatives from each side in a video call. An exchange of diplomatic notes will then allow the deal to come into force even though there is not enough time for it to be ratified by the two countries’ parliaments before the UK leaves the EU single market on December 31.
Liz Truss, international trade secretary, said: “The deal we expect to sign this week locks in tariff-free trading arrangements and will help support our trading relationship, worth…