UK needs to sort EU relationship before opening US trade talks - Froman

UK's relationship with the European Union needs to be sorted out before it can open talks with the US about any kind of post-Brexit trade deal, US Trade Representative Michael Froman said.

Until that time, it was impossible for the UK and US to have "serious conversation about knowing what kind of trade agreement you can have with the UK separately", Reuters reported Froman as stating.

"Is it (UK) part of the customs union or not? Is it part of the single market or not? What areas does it have sovereignty over? Does it have sovereignty over tariffs? Does it have sovereignty over regulation?"

Froman was speaking at Geneva's Graduate Institute.

"Until those sorts of questions are further clarified, it's hard to have a serious conversation about what the nature of what a future US-UK trade relationship might look like," he was quoted by Reuters as saying.

UK voted in a non-binding referendum in June to quit the EU.