(OTTAWA) Britain’s trade secretary says she hopes her country can finalize a formal free trade deal with Canada within a year, now that negotiations are about to begin in earnest.
Updated yesterday at 10:07 p.m.
UK Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan presented this timeline in an interview with The Canadian Press after arriving in Ottawa.
Mme Trevelyan is expected to announce Thursday, along with his Canadian counterpart Mary Ng, the official start of talks with Canada.
“I hope it would be realistic within a year,” said M.me Trevelyan at the residence of the British High Commissioner in Ottawa. We’re both keen to get along (with talks), but speed-wise, that’s my take. »
The UK and Canada have already negotiated an interim trade deal to replace the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, that Canada negotiated with the European Union (EU).
The UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU after its Brexit referendum led to its exit from CETA at the end of 2020.
In November 2020, the UK and Canada signed the interim deal which maintained key elements of CETA, including the elimination of tariffs on 98% of Canadian exports to the UK.
Mme Trevelyan says it’s essential the UK strikes deals with Canada and joins the 11 Pacific nation trade pact known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Canada is a founding member of the CPTPP — an alliance from which former US President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew his country in 2017.
Mme Trevelyan has just arrived from the United States, another key partner with which the UK is seeking a bilateral trade deal. The UK needs to rebuild its international trade relations, as this was the task of the EU when it was a member.
Due to its departure from the EU, the UK was forced to rebuild a Department of Commerce. Mme Trevelyan was eager to point out that she had already helped secure two new deals for her country with Australia and New Zealand in recent months.
Bridging “a huge gap”
She and Minister Ng focus on empowering women. They want to offer them better access to financing to help them develop small and medium-sized enterprises, Ms.me Trevelyan.
This is particularly important, she argued, because the pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on women that the new agreement could help address.
“We want to make sure that we can give them the tools they need, but also that we are a game changer on things like access to finance for women. There is a huge gap in the UK, ”said the British minister.
“If we could rebalance women’s businesses to the same level of investment as men’s, we would add something like £250 billion to the economy. There is a huge gap there. »
Mme Trevelyan also said she wants to see more Canadian investment in Britain, but she doesn’t have a specific goal in mind.
Sanctions against Russia
The Russian invasion of Ukraine forced the UK to join allies including Canada in imposing sanctions on oligarchs loyal to President Vladimir Putin, many of whom were investing in London.
According to Minister Trevelyan, the United Kingdom was set to follow Canada’s lead this week and revoke the right to most-favoured-nation tariff treatment, which would result in 35% tariffs on all Russian products, including the “luxury goods” that President Putin’s oligarchs are so fond of.
She said the UK has now sanctioned 381 oligarchs.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Mary Ng also took part in a virtual meeting of G7 trade ministers on Wednesday where they discussed new measures against Russia.
“At a time of heightened global volatility and shifting geopolitical environments, it is imperative that Canada strengthen its economic resilience by cementing its relationships with trusted partners and longstanding allies like the United Kingdom,” said the President. from the Business Council of Canada, Goldy Hyder.
According to him, the interim agreement between Canada and the United Kingdom had served its purpose, but that the time had come for “a more comprehensive and tailor-made agreement with our third largest export market”.