Brexit and Canada: Stopgap Solutions for the EU–Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) or a New Beginning?

Abstract

This article investigates how Canada’s trade with the EU-27 and the UK might be affected by Brexit. As the transition period foreseen in the 2019 UK Withdrawal Agreement has ended, the EU and the UK are no longer one customs area. The EU–Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), like other EU agreements, has ceased to apply to the UK. Henceforth, the policies and legislation of the UK and the EU-27 will invariably diverge. Taking into account both the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement as well as the Canada UK Trade Continuity Agreement concluded in late-2020, the article shows that the agreements reached, while providing immediate stopgaps for some of the fallout of Brexit, also represent potential for a new departure.