Responding to news of fresh negotiations with Canada to create an upgraded Free Trade Agreement, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the BCC, said:

“A recent BCC survey of more than 1,000 businesses found that Canada was in the top four global markets of interest to smaller UK exporters.

“These negotiations provide the opportunity to make some improvements to the Canada-UK continuity agreement – in areas like digital trade and to also boost trade facilitation measures through Single Customs Windows.

“We also see clear benefits in retaining the main thrust of the existing rules of origin allowing for the flexibility of including EU content in goods traded between the UK and Canada – which have preferential tariff treatment.”

You can read more about the trade negotiations here.