U.K. Role in EU Customs Union Seen as Problem for U.S.

The U.K. will lose considerable bargaining power in trade talks with the U.S. if it agrees to a temporary customs union arrangement with the European Union in the final Brexit divorce deal, a former World Trade Organization negotiator said.

“The U.K. will be approaching its negotiations without one of the biggest arrows in its quiver,” which is the ability “to offer reduced tariff access to the U.K. in exchange for what it wants in either goods or services,” Dmitry Grozoubinski, former Australian trade negotiator to the WTO said at an International Trade Committee hearing.

The main opposition Labour Party is ...