UK seeks Canada’s advice for post-Brexit trade pacts with EU
Britain has sought the advice of Canada to formulate a trade agreement with the European Union after the Brexit vote, Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland says.
Freeland told BBC Radio 4 on Saturday that her team had been holding “technical exchanges” with the UK on Canada’s recently concluded trade deal with the EU.
The remarks by the Canadian minister came just before a meeting with Britain’s Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox.
The development came after the UK’s minister for Brexit, David Davis, stated on Thursday that his preferred model for Britain’s continuing relationship with the EU is Canada’s comprehensive and economic trade agreement (Ceta), the Guardian reported.
According to the report, Freeland also stated on Friday that “We have been sharing, at a technical level, details of how Ceta works.”
She, however, added that securing such an agreement was “very, very complicated. There are 300 trade negotiators in Canada. It takes a big expert team to negotiate trade agreements.”
Freeland further said that Canada had secured a “gold standard” deal with the EU insisting, however, that while it had secured “ambitious services agreements”, it would not enjoy the same level of “passporting” that Britain currently has as a member state – a status that enables banks and financial services businesses to trade freely.
Canada took seven years to finalize its EU deal which is not expected to be implemented until 2017.
The UK, the report says, “does not have the expertise to negotiate trade deals, as for decades agreements have been conducted at EU level.”
A senior US trade official also stated on Thursday that he had held preliminary discussions with British authorities about how the two countries could pursue bilateral trade relations post Brexit.
At a referendum on June 25, about 52 percent of British voters opted to leave the EU, while roughly 48 percent voted to stay in the union.
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