Theresa May is ‘ready to slap tariffs’ on goods from the EU as she plans new law to take back control of trade policy

THERESA May will show EU leaders that Britain is ready to slap tariffs on their exports here by including a new law to take back control of trade policy in this year’s Queen’s Speech, The Sun can reveal.

The trade bill will coincide with the start of Brexit negotiations with Brussels early this summer.

And it will send a firm message to European leaders that the Prime Minister is not bluffing with her threat to walk away from talks without a new UK-EU trade deal.

Brussels currently negotiates trade deals and collects tariffs on behalf of Britain but the new law will transfer that power back to Westminster.

International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox has told MPs that the trade bill will be included in the Queen’s Speech in May.

And it will be passed in the next 12 months so it is ready in time for Brexit.

It will also make Britain ready to strike new trade deals from the day we leave the EU - which is set to be March 29 2019.

The law will help brand Mrs May’s Brexit plan ‘Global Britain’.

A government insider said it will “come as no surprise” that a trade bill will be part of the Government’s ‘Brexit Queen’s Speech’.

A Whitehall source said: “There are a number of decisions that need to be taken, but all options are still being considered.”

EU rules ban Britain from signing new trade deals with any other country but Dr Fox has already lined up more than a dozen countries for new trading agreements for after we leave.

Earlier this year Mrs May and Donald Trump signed a formal deal to launch trade talks.

But Mr Trump’s pick for US trade representative Robert Lighthizer confirmed yesterday that the two countries will have to wait until after Brexit to formally sign the deal.

The new trade law could be one of up to 15 Brexit bills in this year’s Queen’s Speech.

Earlier this week a report by the Institute for Government warned that the extra bills needed to deliver Brexit would leave little time for other business in Parliament.

The average Queen’s Speech contains just 20 new bills. In the first year of the current Parliament the Government passed 23.

Meanwhile it emerged that British firms have recorded their highest level of export orders in more than three years.

The weak pound following last June’s Brexit vote has boosted sales of British goods abroad.

The pharmaceutical and mechanical engineering sectors led the exporting boom, a survey by the Confederation of British Industry found.