A Labour government would negotiate "full tariff-free" access to EU markets for UK businesses after Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn is to say in a speech.
The Labour leader is expected to confirm his support for permanent membership of a customs union after the UK leaves the EU in March 2019.
He will also pledge to protect jobs and guarantee existing rights.
BBC political correspondent Ben Wright said the speech could force the government to change its position.
The prime minister has insisted the UK will leave both the single market and the customs union, allowing it to negotiate its own post-Brexit trade deals.
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But Theresa May is expected to give details on Friday of what has been agreed by her cabinet on how the UK's "managed diversion" from the EU will work in practice.
In his speech, Mr Corbyn will argue that the EU is "not the root of all our problems" nor "the source of all enlightenment".
"The truth is more down to earth and it's in our hands; Brexit is what we make of it together," he will add.
Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner told BBC Breakfast that creating a new customs union with input from both the EU and UK was part of Labour's efforts to "get the best possible outcome for Britain".
"This is a way in which we can retain some of the benefits that we have had over the past 40 years whilst still leaving the European Union, not being subject to its rules [and] not being a rule taker," he added.
Labour could cause huge problems for the government
By Ben Wright, BBC political correspondent
Brexit is not just a negotiation between the EU and the UK.
The British parliament has a huge role in this, more so now that the government doesn't have its own majority.
Why this is now so significant is there are clearly a number of Tory MPs who agree with Labour that there should be a customs union after Brexit.
If - and it is still a big if, but a more likely one - Labour pass an amendment calling for the creation of a customs union, then it does cause huge problems for the government.
It would force the government to change its position.
That is why this is a really significant move by Labour.
The Labour leader is facing calls from senior pro-European figures in his party, including Lord Mandelson and former leader Lord Kinnock, to commit to remaining in the EU single market, as well as the customs union.
But Mr Corbyn will reject this approach in his speech in Coventry, setting out what he calls his "jobs first" approach to Brexit.
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"Every country that is geographically close to the EU without being an EU member state, whether it's Turkey, Switzerland, or Norway, has some sort of close relationship to the EU, some more advantageous than others," he will say.
"Britain will need a bespoke relationship of its own. Labour would negotiate a new and strong relationship with the single market that includes full tariff-free access and a floor under existing rights, standards and protections."
Labour has previously said it wants to retain the "benefits" of the single market and customs union after Brexit without saying how that would be achieved.
Mr Gardiner reiterated the party's desire to have access to the single market, but said: "What we don't want is to be subject to the rules."
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show the UK will leave the customs union in March 2019 - but Labour would seek to negotiate a new treaty that will "do the work of the customs union".
He said this was "the only way realistically to get tariff-free access" to EU markets for UK manufacturers and to avoid the return of a "hard border" in Northern Ireland.
And he suggested the UK could work "jointly with the EU" to strike "bold new trade agreements" with other nations, which the government argues is only possible outside a customs union.
The government has delayed a vote planned for this week on the Trade Bill, which could have seen pro-European Tory rebels joining forces with Labour to vote for an amendment keeping the UK in a customs union after Brexit.
Meanwhile, Brexit Secretary David Davis has accused Mr Corbyn of selling "snake oil".
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the plans which he says Labour has mistaken for a "simple solution to Brexit" would block the UK from signing free trade deals and allow free movement to continue.
"Labour may think they have stumbled across a simple solution to Brexit, but there is a lesson they are yet to learn: if it looks like snake oil, and it smells like snake oil, don't expect it to make you feel better."
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