Business Secretary Greg Clark said the U.K. isn't likely to reach agreements with Japan and South Korea to roll over existing trade deals before Britain's scheduled departure from the European Union on March 29.
Britain benefits from about 40 free-trade agreements with 70 nations through its EU membership, and it's been seeking to extend them after Brexit. Combined, they account for 11 percent of U.K. trade.
"Unfortunately not all of the FTAs — and I might mention the Japan and Korean ones that are important — are expected to be concluded in time," Clark told executives and journalists on Tuesday at the annual conference of the MakeUK manufacturing lobby group. "That is one of the reasons why I think it is so important that we should not leave without a deal."