As expected–and predicted by many, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this month–Canada and the United Kingdom have agreed to a new trade deal.
The interim agreement will take effect Jan. 1, when the U.K. severs ties with the European Union.
A formal–and more comprehensive–agreement will be worked out next year.
Trudeau and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who were joined by Canadian International Trade Minister Mary Ng and British International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, made the announcement via a (very chatty) live video news conference on Saturday morning.
WATCH/ As Canadian and British leaders celebrate their new interim trade agreement:
The U.K. is Canada’s fifth-largest trading partner, trailing the U.S., China, Mexico and Japan.
According to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, Canada exports to the U.K. totalled US$14.92 Billion during 2019,
U.K. exports to Canada totalled US$6.73 Billion during 2019.
Following the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union in January, Ottawa and London agreed to let the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA–the bilateral trade deal in effect between Canada and the EU since 2017–continue to apply to Canada–U.K. trade until the end of this year.
The deal announced Saturday will replace that agreement as both sides continue to work out details.
According to the CBC’s Janyce McGregor, negotiating a new comprehensive bilateral trade package before Jan. 1 was complicated by the fact that Britain lacked jurisdiction over its trade affairs until its exit from the EU was complete.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, and his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, are pictured at a Buckingham Palace NATO reception in London last December. Canada and the U.K. have signed a new, interim trade agreement that will be filled out in the coming year. (Yui Mok/Pool via REUTERS)
McGregor reports that Ottawa and London decided to “roll over” the CETA agreement by replicating most of the existing language and renegotiating only what was required to make it fit U.K.-only trade.
“This is a good moment,” Trudeau said Saturday.
“This continued sign of our collaboration, co-operation, and deep, deep friendship and partnership is really important not just for people in our two countries, but people around the world as well.”
For his part, Johnson said free trade would help both countries “bounce back” to rebuild their economies after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“But I also think that Canada and the U.K. share a perspective about building back greener,” said Johnson, who congratulated Trudeau for taking steps to get Canada to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, referring to legislation tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
With files from CBC News (Janyce McGregor), The Canadian Press, Reuters
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.