(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. joined other World Trade Organization members in temporarily blocking the U.K.’s bid to stay in a $1.7 trillion public procurement alliance, according to three officials familiar with the proceeding. Britain, which will lose its current access to the group after leaving the European Union in March, will try again next month to reach an agreement to stay in the pact.

Members of the 46-nation accord couldn’t reach a consensus on admitting Britain to the Government Procurement Agreement during a Wednesday meeting in Geneva, said the three officials, who asked not to be identified because discussions are private. Failure to rejoin the pact could prevent U.K. companies from bidding on government contracts in member nations, including the $837 billion U.S. market.

GPA members will consider a provisional agreement to the U.K.’s accession bid at the next WTO government procurement committee meeting scheduled for Nov. 27, the officials said. At Wednesday’s meeting the U.S., New Zealand and Moldova expressed technical concerns and requested clarification on which government entities would be included in the U.K. offer to rejoin the alliance.

U.K. and U.S. officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

There was broad support to keep the U.K. in the GPA after British officials said they would engage with any concerned members on a bilateral basis in the coming weeks, the officials said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bryce Baschuk in Geneva at bbaschuk2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo, Ben Sills

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