The U.K. has parted ways with the European Union and British diplomat Antony Phillipson isn't wasting time looking in the rearview mirror. 

"We have done Brexit. We have left the EU. Now we're engaged in the process of our future relationship with the EU, our future relationship with the U.S., our future relationship with the rest of the global economy," he said.

Phillipson, the British Consul General in New York and Her Majesty's Trade Commissioner for North America, spoke Thursday in Raleigh, North Carolina, during a panel discussion that Womble Bond Dickinson sponsored. 

Asked if he believed the U.K. and EU could finalize a trade deal before the Brexit transition period ends Dec. 31, Phillipson deadpanned, "Yes," drawing laughter from the audience. 

"I'm very confident that it will be done," he continued. "I think there is an imperative on both sides to get that done. … We know what we want to do. … We just have to get on and do it." 

The U.K.'s goal is to reach a free trade agreement with the EU with "zero tariffs, zero quotas on trading goods," according to Phillipson. 

He also stressed that the U.K. is "absolutely determined to deepen and strengthen" its economic relationship with the U.S., noting that the U.S. is the U.K.'s largest export market. The U.S. receives 18-20% of the U.K.'s exports in any given year, according to Phillipson. 

"I believe there is an imperative for the U.K. and the U.S. to get back to having a conversation about the type of global economy in which we want to operate," he said. "It's not just us. I would like to include in that the likes of Canada, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Australia and a number of the European member states." 

When an audience member asked how much the U.K. was willing to sacrifice in order to secure a trade agreement with the U.S., Phillipson replied: "I think sacrifice is the wrong word." 

"We've watched very carefully what the U.S. has done both through [North American Free Trade Agreement] and the renegotiation to [United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement]," he said, referring to the new trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. 

"Trade agreements are about give and take. They are about reaching mutual agreements on mutual benefit. And so I think sacrifice is the wrong word. If you make it a sacrifice I think you automatically create sort of a sense of resistance to the deal," he added.  

Phillipson later acknowledged that the U.K. is "acutely aware of the political dynamics" surrounding trade issues and stressed that crafting an agreement that is unlikely to receive support on both sides of the Atlantic would be pointless.

If opposing parties maintain control of the U.S. House and Senate "and we can't keep some support from both sides of the aisle for what we end up negotiating with the U.S., we're going to have a problem," he said.