OTTAWA — Canada and Britain struck a new trade deal on Saturday, allowing the long-standing partners to trumpet a commercial triumph in the face of the economic devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The interim deal beat the looming Dec. 31 Brexit deadline, replacing Canada’s current agreement with Britain under the European Union that covers trade between the two countries. Saturday’s interim pact, announced amid a virtual gathering of G-20 leaders, is a placeholder that buys Canada and Britain another year to reach a more comprehensive agreement while also warding off a no-deal scenario that would have triggered new tariffs on a range of Canadian exports on Jan. 1
But few details were released about the new interim agreement. Breaking with past practice during trade negotiations, there were no pre-announcement briefings for journalists and no text was released.
“This is a good moment,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he announced the deal during a video news conference with his British counterpart, Boris Johnson.
“Free trade is an important part of the way we’re going to bounce back from COVID,” Johnson said. “And using that, this is a moment in which to tackle climate change, but also to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in green technologies
The two leaders spoke on a shared video screen as they prepared to join their fellow G20 leaders at the start of their two-day virtual video summit hosted by Saudi Arabia.
The G20, which includes the non-democratic countries of China and Russia as well as the large economies of India and Brazil, is facing its greatest challenge since it rose to prominence in 2008 to battle the Great Recession – rebooting a global economy decimated by COVID-19.
Trudeau said the new pact sent a strong message about the importance of global trade.
“This continued sign of our collaboration, co-operation, and deep, deep friendship and partnership is really important not just for people in our two countries, but people around the world as well,” he said.
Britain’s decision to leave the EU after its Brexit referendum means that the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, will no longer apply to the country at the end of the year.
The new deal preserves CETA’s key provision — the elimination of tariffs on 98 per cent of Canadian exports to Britain — until a more comprehensive agreement can be reached later. Britain is Canada’s fifth-largest trading partner, with $29 billion in two-way merchandise trade in 2019.
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