To be clear, I believe the vote to leave the EU was an absolutely stupid decision on the part of the British electorate, but what is done is done and now we should make the best of it.
NAFTA will certainly not compensate for the EU. The EU imposed minimal transportation costs on products due to geographical proximity. Trans-Atlantic trade will impose trans-Atlantic transportation costs which will limit trade between the UK and Canada even within NAFTA. Due to geography, the UK would remain peripheral to Canada-US trade. Plus NAFTA itself is somewhat of a protectionist block like the EU with country-of-origin provisions, respect for Canadian content, and agricultural protections. Let's not forget, the US and Canada are protectionist at heart, NAFTA itself having been imposed on them by necessity as a counterbalance to the EU.
Furthermore, like the EU, NAFTA goes beyond tariff reductions to unify certain rules to reduce non-tariff barriers to trade. The age of focusing exclusively on tariff barriers is decades past. Tariffs are generally liw now. The focus today is on non-tariff barriers which necessarily involves unifying rules, and that necessitates an exchange of sovereignty for freer trade. It's an inextricable trade-off whether in the EU, NAFTA, or any other deeper trade agreement.
If the UK wants to limit itself only to tariff barriers to trade for the sake of elusive 'sovereignty,' then no more multinational banking for London.
The sovereignty-or-free-trade trade off will face the UK in or out of the EU.
Should the UK join NAFTA, this would benefit Canada at least somewhat (though not as much as had the UK stayed in the EU since the world needs a strong UK economy) and for the UK it would be better than nothing. The UK has stupidly turned its back on its most important trading partners and beggers can't be choosers. The least Canada can do is invite the UK to join NAFTA since for the UK, NAFTA is better than nothing now that the UK has burned its bridge to the EU.
NAFTA will certainly not compensate for the EU. The EU imposed minimal transportation costs on products due to geographical proximity. Trans-Atlantic trade will impose trans-Atlantic transportation costs which will limit trade between the UK and Canada even within NAFTA. Due to geography, the UK would remain peripheral to Canada-US trade. Plus NAFTA itself is somewhat of a protectionist block like the EU with country-of-origin provisions, respect for Canadian content, and agricultural protections. Let's not forget, the US and Canada are protectionist at heart, NAFTA itself having been imposed on them by necessity as a counterbalance to the EU.
Furthermore, like the EU, NAFTA goes beyond tariff reductions to unify certain rules to reduce non-tariff barriers to trade. The age of focusing exclusively on tariff barriers is decades past. Tariffs are generally liw now. The focus today is on non-tariff barriers which necessarily involves unifying rules, and that necessitates an exchange of sovereignty for freer trade. It's an inextricable trade-off whether in the EU, NAFTA, or any other deeper trade agreement.
If the UK wants to limit itself only to tariff barriers to trade for the sake of elusive 'sovereignty,' then no more multinational banking for London.
The sovereignty-or-free-trade trade off will face the UK in or out of the EU.
Should the UK join NAFTA, this would benefit Canada at least somewhat (though not as much as had the UK stayed in the EU since the world needs a strong UK economy) and for the UK it would be better than nothing. The UK has stupidly turned its back on its most important trading partners and beggers can't be choosers. The least Canada can do is invite the UK to join NAFTA since for the UK, NAFTA is better than nothing now that the UK has burned its bridge to the EU.
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