David Davis has demonstrated a decidedly muddled understanding of trade policy

One of the arguments made by the Leave campaign during the UK’s referendum was that Brexit would allow Britain to negotiate trade deals with other countries around the world more quickly than would be possible via the EU. Mark Manger writes that the plans outlined so far by David Davis, the UK’s new ‘Brexit Secretary’, indicate this is likely to be a key priority for Theresa May’s government. However, he argues that the model put forward by Davis illustrates considerable confusion about how trade policy works in practice.