The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) is trying to light
a fire under Canadian trade negotiators to get on with a new deal with the
United Kingdom.
But Steve Verheul, assistant deputy minister of trade policy and
negotiations at Global Affairs Canada, told a parliamentary committee that negotiations
will have to wait until a deal emerges on Brexit, Britain’s exit from the
European Union.
And he told a House of Commons committee that Canada will be
asking for a deal that duplicates what already exists in the recently-implemented
trade agreement between Canada and the European Union.
Claire Citeau, executive director of CAFTA, said that deal (CETA)
held promise for exporters when first signed but “continues to fall short” of
its potential, because of the EU’s reluctance to remove technical and
non-tariff trade barriers to trade over the deal’s three years of existence.
“Our view is that
Canada should formally engage and seek to conclude negotiations of an ambitious
(Canada-U.K.) free trade agreement that removes tariffs and non-tariff
barriers, that provides liberal rules of origins, and secures the level playing
fields,” she said.
She said some other countries have done this and Canada needs
“to be at the table as well.”
She said Canada has too often been later than other nations in
making trade deals. Earlier this month the United States said it’s talking to
the United Kingdom about a post-Brexit deal.
