U.K. investment minister chats up benefits of trade
Looming Brexit deadline shouldn’t stop market access, says Graham Stuart
With the scheduled date for Brexit less than six months away, a U.K. government minister told a Calgary business crowd that Britain is eager to remain a “partner of choice” for trade-dependent Canadian companies.
Minister of Investment Graham Stuart made a sales pitch to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, assuring business owners that the looming Brexit deadline should not disrupt Canadian direct investment in Great Britain.
He said the Canadian and U.K. governments have already committed to securing an agreement between the two countries that will at least replicate the level of market access laid out in CETA, the comprehensive free trade agreement between Canada and the European Union that came into force last year. It is hoped that a bilateral agreement will be reached by March 29, the date at which the U.K. is scheduled to withdraw from the EU.
Stuart added the U.K. would also like to go one step further, creating a Canada-U.K. bilateral agreement that is “better” than CETA and eliminates even more trade barriers.
“I can’t give a timeline,” Stuart said in an interview. “But as a nation conducting its own trade policy for the first time in 40 years, there will be opportunities for us to talk to partners like Canada and see what we can do.”
Stuart’s trip to Calgary was the third visit to Canada in a threeweek period by a minister from the U.K.’s Department of Trade, as the government of that country seeks to sell Brexit not as an impediment to trade, but an opportunity. Stuart said Brexit has convinced many British companies to look to North America after years of being “too Eurocentric.”
“The easiest markets have been the most geographically close, but we think there’s a vast opportunity in the rest of the world,” Stuart said, quoting the International Monetary Fund as saying 90 per cent of global growth in the next 10-15 years is expected to occur outside the EU. He added that while Brexit has shown British businesses the danger of putting all their eggs in one basket, Canada — which just struck a new trade agreement with the U.S. after a period of lengthy and heated talks — may also be interested in diversifying.
“There’s a parallel with Canadian companies. The easiest thing for them to do is just to look south to the U.S. and do business there,” Stuart said. “When actually looking east and west, which seems more challenging ... can pay off in the long term.”
Stuart acknowledged it is still unclear exactly what a negotiated Brexit agreement with the EU will look like for the U.K., though he said the deal is “80 per cent” concluded and he believes it will be a positive one for both partners. He said once that deal is in place it will give more confidence to Canadian businesses looking to Britain as an investment destination.
“The world’s full of uncertainties. I think the Brexit uncertainties, seen in perspective, are probably not as immense as many other uncertainties that beset business and wider society,” Stuart said.
After the U.S. and China, the U.K. is Canada’s third largest export market, valued at $17 billion in 2017. There are about 600 U.K. firms operating in Canada and about 700 Canadian firms operating in the United Kingdom.
In Alberta, British companies like energy giant BP and engineering group Wood Plc have a significant presence, while Alberta-based companies like Stantec, Suncor and Nexen-CNOOC have operations in the United Kingdom.
The easiest markets have been the most geographically close, but we think there’s a vast opportunity in the rest of the world.