ABSTRACT
While Brexit was advocated as the great disruptor which would unshackle the UK from the heavy-handed and inflexible trade policy imposed by the EU, a lot of time and energy has been spent seeking to ensure continuity of the EU’s trade agreements. This chapter will unpack the relationship between the rhetoric of rupture and the practice of continuity. It will do so by focusing on the effect of international trade agreements that were binding on the UK pursuant to its EU membership and will analyse how they were approached by both the British and the EU authorities and how they have been managed under the UK–EU Withdrawal Agreement and UK law.
