By Elishya Perera
LONDON (CWBN)_ The UK is to sign a new trade deal with Canada, which will replace London’s existing agreement with Ottawa through the European Union.
After the Brexit transition period expires on December 31, the UK will no longer be party to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a free-trade agreement between Canada and the EU, and unless a new agreement is formed, UK and Canada will face tariffs on trade thereafter.
A new deal with Ottawa will be a major boost for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the UK continues contentious talks with Brussels, with no deal in sight.
If signed, the agreement with Canada will be the UK’s second major trade deal as an independent trading nation in the post-Brexit, following the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was signed last month.
The British government also reported that the negotiations on the mutual recognition agreements with the US, Australia and New Zealand are progressing.
The Department of International Trade of UK said in a statement that talks with Ottawa are “at an advanced stage and progressing well”, while sources familiar with the matter have informed Bloomberg that an announcement is expected within a matter of days.
According to Liz Truss, the UK trade secretary, the deal will boost trade between the two nations “from cars to beef to fish to whiskey”.
“I do hope that in the future, as Canada is a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has advanced chapters in areas like data and digital, that we will be able to go much further and build a much deeper relationship with Canada,” Truss added.
Canada is Britain’s 12th largest trading partner and in the first nine months of this year, London exported commodities worth C$6.9 billion (US$5.28 billion), and imported C$14 billion (US$10.7 billion) from Canada.
Meanwhile Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada is an easy trade partner for Britain and that negotiations between the two nations could wrap up by the 1st of January.
“I know that rolling over and demonstrating free trade deals is important for the U.K. government. Canada is a really easy one. We’re there for it. We’d like to do it…” he said last week.
If the UK fails to reproduce the effects of other existing EU trade agreements, London’s trade with the relevant countries will be carried out on the terms of the World Trade Organisation.
Nevertheless, a spokesperson to PM Johnson said that the government has either signed or agreed in principle to trade deals with 52 countries, which account for GBP 142 billion (US$187 billion) of UK’s bilateral trade.
Edited By Chathushka Perera
