Britain and Canada agreed to continue trading under same terms as EU deal
Boris Johnson praises ‘fantastic’ new trade agreement with Canada: UK’s second major Brexit deal ‘will help us bounce back from Covid’, PM says
- Britain and Canada agreed to continue trading under same terms as EU deal
- The UK said agreement paves the way for talks for a new deal with Canada
- DIT said it avoids £42million of tariffs exporters in the UK would have faced
Boris Johnson today praised a ‘fantastic’ deal with Canada which allows Britain to continue trading with the North American nation under EU terms as negotiators rush to cement relations in preparation for life post-Brexit.
In a relief for businesses fearing high tariffs, the Government said the agreement paves the way for negotiations to begin next year for a new deal with Canada.
Under the terms of the agreement, the UK and Canada will continue trading under the terms as the current EU system after the Brexit transition period ends.
Without a series of new bilateral agreements, trade with countries around the world may be hampered by barriers such as tariffs and increased paperwork.
The UK government says the stop-gap agreement paves the way for future negotiations on a new tailor-made UK-Canada trade deal.
In a statement, Johnson today said: ‘This is is a fantastic agreement for Britain which secures trans-Atlantic trade with one of our closest allies.
‘British businesses export everything from electric cars to sparkling wine to Canada, and today’s deal will ensure that trade goes from strength to strength.
‘Our negotiators have been working flat-out to secure trade deals for the UK, and from as early next year we have agreed to start work on a new, bespoke trade deal with Canada that will go even further in meeting the needs of our economy.’
Welcoming the continuity deal, Trudeau suggested a new comprehensive trade agreement with the UK would take several years to negotiate.
He added the deal meant that ‘now we get to continue to work on a bespoke agreement, a comprehensive agreement over the coming years that will really maximise our trade opportunities and boost things for everyone’.
Last week, Trudeau said Ottawa and London should be able to agree an ‘easy’ trade deal by the end of the year but added that Britain’s ‘bandwidth’ for negotiations was a challenge as it holds talks with several major trade partners at the same time.
British Chambers of Commerce director general Adam Marshall said the deal ‘will be warmly welcomed’ but warned that similar continuity deals were urgently needed with other key markets, including Turkey and Singapore, to avoid ‘a damaging cliff edge for both importers and exporters’.
And he repeated his call for a deal to be struck with the EU , describing that as the ‘single most critical trade agreement our business communities need’.
He and his and Canadian counterpart Trudeau sealed the ‘agreement in principle’ in a video call today, the Department for International Trade (DIT) said.
In a clip of the meeting, Trudeau says: ‘This is a good moment, we’re all living with Covid-19 but there’s lots of other things we need to get going as well.
‘And the trade relationship and the historic relationship between Canada and the UK is just so deep that being able to make sure that we’re seamlessly transitioning through this, the Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement, which is perfect to make sure that our businesses and yours continue to work well together.
‘Now we get to continue to work on a bespoke agreement. A comprehensive agreement over the coming years that will really maximise our trade opportunities and boost things for everyone.’
He said one of the aims was to ‘make sure businesses were reassured as this important milestone comes up that we’re going to continue to protect everyone’.
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss was also present at the meeting, as well as Mary Ng who holds the same position in the Canadian Government.
Ng added: ‘Following the UK’s decision to leave the EU […] we got to work.
‘We knew that having an interim agreement would be crucial to ensure that businesses, exporters are workers on both sides of the Atlantic have the continuity and the predicabilty that they need.’
She said both parties will be working towards a ‘high standard and ambitious agreement with a focus on women, the environment, small businesses as well as the importance of digital trade.’
Truss said the deal ‘secures certainty for British and Canadian businesses, securing tens of thousands of jobs.’
‘Free trade is an incredible force for good. It’s going to help us drive economic growth here in Britain and level up our country,’ she added.
Johnson stressed that ‘free trade is an important part of the way we’re going to bounce back from Covid’.
The agreement rolls over the settlement agreed by the EU with Canada in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta) and does not give any new benefits to UK businesses.
But the DIT said it avoids an estimated £42million of tariffs exporters in the UK would have faced if the Government had failed to get a deal.
Ministers hope future negotiations will go further on ‘digital trade, women’s economic empowerment and the environment’, according to DIT.
Industry groups expressed relief that businesses will not face higher trade tariffs with Canada next month.
Federation of Small Businesses chairman Mike Cherry said: ‘There was always a danger that the end of the transition period would mean losing wider international market access that we enjoyed as part of EU membership.
‘The fact that this new agreement upholds the small business chapter that was previously in place is very welcome. We look forward to such chapters being at the centre of all future UK trade deals.’
Confederation of British Industry director-general Josh Hardie said it was ‘great news for businesses’ and that the agreement can ‘lay the foundations for an even deeper trade agreement’.
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said: ‘Today’s agreement underpins £20billion worth of trade and locks in certainty for thousands of jobs.
‘We look forward to striking a new more ambitious deal next year with the aim of creating more opportunities for businesses and improving the lives of people across the country.’
Before it is formally signed, the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement will be subject to final legal checks.
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry welcomed the ‘necessary’ deal.
‘It is now vital that Boris Johnson and Liz Truss show the same urgency in securing the other 14 outstanding continuity agreements with countries like Mexico, Ghana and Singapore, where a total of £60 billion of UK trade is still at risk, and time is beginning to run out,’ she added.
Britain is currently locked in fraught talks with the European Union to set the terms of their future trading relationship for when the post-Brexit transition period ends on December 31.
Following its referendum vote in 2016 to leave the EU, Britain can now strike trade deals of its own.
London is in a rush to secure as many as possible to mitigate any economic hit caused by more restrictive economic relations with the European bloc, which is by far its biggest market.
It comes after Brussels claimed a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK is ‘both close and far away’ due to the ‘persistent’ deadlock over crunch issues like fishing rights.
Top-level talks were suspended this week after a member of Michel Barnier’s team tested positive for coronavirus.
Officials continue to work remotely on the detail of the accord but EU diplomats said this morning that sticking points ‘still need their time’ to be resolved as the clock ticks down to the end of the transition period in December.
As well as fishing, the other main points of contention are the so-called ‘level playing field’ on competition and the future governance of the deal.
Progress is said to be being made ‘very, very slowly’ on those two issues but ‘fisheries are not really moving anywhere right now’.
EU diplomats were briefed on the status of the talks this morning by a senior member of the European Commission, with reports suggesting some in Brussels believe a deal is now ’95 per cent done’.
It was apparently said that the two sides are very close to agreement in almost all areas apart from the three which have prevented major progress being made.
A senior EU diplomat told Reuters after the meeting: ‘We are both close and far away. It seems that we are very close to agreement on most issues but differences on the three contentious issues persist.’
A second EU diplomat said of the outstanding issues: ‘They still need their time. Some things on the level playing field have moved, albeit very, very slowly. Fisheries are not really moving anywhere right now.’
The talks were plunged into disarray yesterday after a member of Barnier’s team tested positive for Covid-19 and top-level negotiations had to be put on hold.
Downing Street said that the two sides ‘have agreed to negotiate remotely for the time being’ and face-to-face talks will resume ‘when it is judged safe to do so’.
The PM’s Official Spokesman would not be drawn on the reports of a deal being ’95 per cent done’ as he said: ‘Our assessment remains that we want to get an FTA, that has been our ambition throughout and our negotiating position remains the same.’
More here.
Jack Wright
source:dailymail.co.uk