OTTAWA — Canada negotiated a free trade agreement with the European Union but now that the United Kingdom is leaving the EU, questions arise about the future.
“The U.K. has been one of our best allies there,” said John Masswohl of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
“We are in the realm of speculation about what might happen next,” he said at the CCA annual meeting in Ottawa held March 21-23.
The Canadian government has been talking with the EU and U.K. over the impacts of Brexit and what happens after the split occurs in March 2019, said Karen Hodgson, deputy director of trade with Agriculture Canada.
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Uncertainty abounds.
The U.K. cannot negotiate separate free trade agreements until it has officially left the EU. There is a two-year transition period after it leaves.
Until then, the U.K. has the benefits of the CETA during the transition period.
No one knows if the U.K. can achieve a free trade deal with the EU or if tariff rate quotas might apply. No one is sure what might happen to the negotiated 50,000 tonne beef quota Canada achieved, said Masswohl.
