The Secretary of State for International Trade returned from his busy Argentinian trip having discussed Britain’s post-Brexit prospects with representatives keen to maintain and better their nations’ trading position with the United Kingdom.

Dr Fox told Commonwealth representatives at the WTO event, in Buenos Aires, that sceptical pundits need to understand Brexit is “not a time bomb” and leaving the EU will allow the UK to have a “bold and confident” future.

He said: “As the United Kingdom negotiates its exit from the European Union, we have the opportunity to reinvigorate our Commonwealth partnerships, and usher in a new era where expertise, talent, goods, and capital can move unhindered between our nations in a way that they have not for a generation or more.”

Upon returning to Britain, the International Trade Secretary sat down with Express.co.uk to discuss his successful trade mission in Argentina.

Dr Fox justified his comments from the Commonwealth reception, insisting the future of global trade is away from the Brussels bloc. 

He said: “The greatest amount of negativity being generated actually comes from those in the UK, and some beyond the UK, who are not quite reconciled to the referendum result and seem to still want the referendum battle.

“You know we’re leaving the European Union and the majority of Britain’s trade is outside the European Union, at the present time – about 57 per cent is out of the European Union.

“That’s the growing part of global trade, the OECD estimates about 90 per cent of global growth in the next 10 to 15 years will come outside the European continent.

“When we talk about trade in the UK, it tends to be very centred around the Brexit argument – for the rest of the world it is not.

“What they want to know is what will Britain’s trade and investment position be after we leave the EU, where do we see our partnerships emerging, where do we see those strong bonds for the future, where do we see the new trade agreements coming from.

“And, to a lot of parts of the world, Brexit is not the most important issue that we face at the present time.”

Dr Fox also revealed he held “very, very useful” meetings with a series of nations hoping to strike up a trade deal with Britain after Brexit.

He said: “Countries wanted to know what we think about the prospect of a trade agreement with the EU and what did it mean terms of Britain’s wider engagement."

The International Trade Secretary reaffirmed the prospect of transitioning 40 trade deals Britain has under the EU into UK law, having held meetings with trade counterparts from each of them.

He said: “Then, of course, we have the new countries that we might want to have trade agreements with, after we leave the EU, where the EU doesn’t have them – that’s the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

“I was in Australia and New Zealand last week, and I met with the US trade representative, Bob Lighthizer, at the meetings we had in Buenos Aires.”

Dr Fox did, however, conceded he is still unable to fully negotiate with the likes of Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

He said: “We can’t actually negotiate those while we’re part of the EU, we can only do that after we leave the EU.

“But what we can do is spend the time scoping out the sort of areas we want to look at.”