The provisional agreement opens the way for further negotiations. Prime Minister Johnson sees it as a step towards joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership. After the Brexit, Great Britain can trade with Canada under the same conditions as before. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Canadian colleague Justin Trudeau agreed on Saturday in a video broadcast to a provisional free trade agreement that continues the benefits of the EU-Canada agreement Ceta. 4besnews The deal secures transatlantic trade with one of the closest allies, Johnson said.
British Trade Secretary Liz Truss wrote in the Daily Telegraph that the deal brings Britain one step closer to the Transpacific Partnership (TPP), a trade alliance of 11 countries in the Pacific region. In October, the UK had already signed a trade agreement with TPP member Japan. With the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December, all EU trade agreements with third countries will lose their validity in the Kingdom. The government has therefore been renegotiating these agreements bilaterally for two years. So far, 53 agreements have been extended, more than a dozen are still missing. It is unclear whether the time until the end of the year will be sufficient. The agreement with Canada is only a placeholder. Starting next year, F9news a tailor-made long-term agreement is to be negotiated. Great Britain hopes to receive additional benefits for service providers. They want to make the country “the world's leading hub for services, data, and digitization,” Truss said. According to Trudeau, these negotiations could take several years. The possibility of concluding their own trade agreements has been cited by Brexit advocates for years as one of the central arguments for leaving the EU. In the future, Prime Minister Johnson wants to position Great Britain as a pioneer for free trade and a strong World Trade Organization (WTO).
Business associations welcome continuity in transatlantic trade
Critics, on the other hand, argue that trade with far-flung countries does not compensate for the losses incurred by leaving the European single market and the customs union. The Canada Agreement and even a possible accession to TPP deal with limited effect for the British economy warned trade expert Anna Jerzewska on Twitter. According to economists, Brexit will cost the British economy several percentage points of growth in the long term. Even a trade deal with the superpower USA, on the other hand, would only increase economic output by 0.16 percentage points, according to the government's own estimate. In the case of Canada, British exports amount to eleven billion pounds a year. By way of comparison, British companies export goods and services worth almost 300 billion pounds to the EU every year. British business associations welcomed the continuity in transatlantic trade. At the same time, they reminded us that it was urgently necessary to conclude an agreement with the EU. The talks between EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and his British counterpart David Frost will continue this week. According to participants, 95 percent of the text of the agreement has been agreed upon. Great progress is being made, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday. The points of contention are still fishing, state aid, and control mechanisms.
