Among all the wishful thinking, pipe dreams, ignorance and lies which form the manifesto of the hard Brexiteers, ‘freedom to do trade deals with other countries’ is by far their most often proclaimed. The United Kingdom already has trading arrangements outside the EU with more countries than at any time in its modern history. Leaving the EU without a deal would void all of them. It now transpires that the promised ease with which we would instantly get roll over deals to enable that trade to continue were based on almost total ignorance of the legal and political framework of these treaties, and the rhetoric was tripe. No such roll overs have been secured and Japan, with whom we are supposed to be especially matey, is driving for a much harder bargain than it has given to the EU. Which is less favourable to us.
It is no small wonder that the word fiasco is being widely used in Europe to describe the Brexit nightmare.