Britain’s Fox says he expected Brexit talks to go ‘the distance’

Britain’s International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said Thursday that he “always expected” negotiations on a Brexit deal to go “the distance.”

Fox was in Geneva for what may turn out to be his final meetings at the World Trade Organization before Britain leaves the European Union.

“I have always expected that this would go the distance,” said Fox, a long-standing Brexit supporter.

He recounted a meeting last year with the board of the US media conglomerate Viacom, when he asked members about their collective experience in negotiating mergers and acquisitions.

“How many of you stopped (negotiating) four months before the deadline because you didn’t think you could get a better agreement?” he recalled asking the board, indicating that be believed the best divorce deal available to Britain would come close to the March 29 deadline.

Talks between London and Brussels on reaching a withdrawal agreement are expected to last into the weekend, ahead of a crucial vote in the British parliament next week.

With just three weeks to go until the scheduled departure date, concern is growing about the possibility of Britain crashing out of the bloc, after 46 years of membership, with no deal in place.

Before next week’s vote, Prime Minister Theresa May’s government is seeking legally-binding changes to the agreement it struck with the EU in November but which was resoundingly rejected by parliament in January.

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