EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom responded to questions on US Trade Representative’s statement on starting negotiation with Japan, EU and UK. Malmstrom said the EU “see this merely as preparations being made by the U.S. to negotiate with them and others.” And she added “we have not started negotiating yet”.
Also, Malmstrom said “we are prepared to start the scoping exercise on a limited agreement focus on industrial goods … so far the U.S. has not shown any big interest.”
Regarding UK, she said “the U.K. cannot negotiate any trade agreement as long as they are a member of the European Union.”