Post-Brexit Trade: A Missed Opportunity for Development?

BERLIN — During a visit to South Africa in August, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that her government had secured its first post-Brexit trade deal: an agreement between the United Kingdom and six southern African countries, which she said would “build a closer trade and investment partnership in the future that brings even greater benefits for both sides.”

But the deal is actually a replication of an existing European Union arrangement with those six countries, known as an Economic Partnership Agreement, or EPA.