The Free Trade Agreement negotiations between the UK and Canada were suspended

On January 25th 2024, the UK trade negotiators suspended talks with their Canadian counterparts on an FTA intended to update the roll over agreement currently in place. Since the EU Exit, the UK has been able to access the Canadian market on favourable terms, in line with previous access under the EU/Canada FTA. Significant agricultural exports to Canada include cheese £18.7m in 2022, beef £9.2m and lamb £4.9m. Since January 1st 2024, the UK no longer had access to the EU Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) for cheese. Instead, UK exportsonly have access to the non-EU TRQ which is effectively filled by Swiss and Norwegian produce. Outside this TRQ, cheese is subject to the MFN tariff exceeding 200%. It is understood that the sticking point was Canadian access to the UK beef market. The UK negotiators view accepting hormone treated beef as a ‘red line’ in negotiations. This effectively rules out Canadian beef access to the UK market. The UK is expected to accede to the CPTPP in the second half ...