The Commonwealth is the New EU

[mentalfloss]

Canada asked to both help and negotiate with U.K. amid 1st-ever Commonwealth trade talks

The United Kingdom is turning to traditional partners like Canada for help as it prepares to withdraw from the European Union and do something it hasn't done in decades: negotiate its own trade deals.

A first-ever Commonwealth trade ministers meeting next week in London could kick off negotiations to bolster the British economy once it leaves the privileged EU zone.

Trade collaboration across the Commonwealth has been "a dream from Thatcher onwards," University of Cambridge trade law expert Lorand Bartels said — and now a possible alternative to the EU.

Could it be more than a dream?

If Canada wants to avoid losing its largest European trading partner, it could soon find itself haggling across the table in post-Brexit talks.

International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne will attend the inaugural meeting of an expected 30 trade ministers March 9 and 10 in London. Business leaders will be there too.

The Commonwealth has never focused on formal trade co-ordination. The British didn't used to be keen.

Canada asked to both help and negotiate with U.K. amid 1st-ever Commonwealth trade talks - Politics - CBC News

 

[White_Unifier]

Canada asked to both help and negotiate with U.K. amid 1st-ever Commonwealth trade talks

The United Kingdom is turning to traditional partners like Canada for help as it prepares to withdraw from the European Union and do something it hasn't done in decades: negotiate its own trade deals.

A first-ever Commonwealth trade ministers meeting next week in London could kick off negotiations to bolster the British economy once it leaves the privileged EU zone.

Trade collaboration across the Commonwealth has been "a dream from Thatcher onwards," University of Cambridge trade law expert Lorand Bartels said — and now a possible alternative to the EU.

Could it be more than a dream?

If Canada wants to avoid losing its largest European trading partner, it could soon find itself haggling across the table in post-Brexit talks.

International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne will attend the inaugural meeting of an expected 30 trade ministers March 9 and 10 in London. Business leaders will be there too.

The Commonwealth has never focused on formal trade co-ordination. The British didn't used to be keen.

Canada asked to both help and negotiate with U.K. amid 1st-ever Commonwealth trade talks - Politics - CBC News

This puts Canada in a tough position. The EU is a far more important trading partner to Canada than is the UK. But, the UK is an important trading partner too.

That said, should the Commonwealth of Nations as a whole decide to drop all trade barriers between one another and maybe promote free movement between at least CANZUK countries, then that would be far more beneficial to Canada than the little EU. So, the EU is more important to Canada than the UK, but the Commonwealth could be more important to Canada than the EU, depending on what each side is willing to offer.

All that being said, the USA will remain Canada's most important trading partner for the foreseeable future, meaning that, should the US play hard ball and try to force Canada to choose between it and others, then the EU or the Commonwealth would need to make us a pretty damn sweet deal to make it worthwhile for us to sacrifice trade with the USA. In the end, Canada must choose between the US (or North America including Mexico), the Commonwealth of Nations (with maybe an additional CANZUK deal to boot), or the EU depending on who offers us the best deal.

As for the UK alone, it would be an insignificant player in all of this for Canada from a purely geo-economic perspective. With that, it's in the UK's interest to promote CANZUK and the Commonwealth if it wants to make itself more relevant to us.

The UK might be hoping for Erin O'Toole to win the Conservative leadership contest here in Canada. He does support a CANZUK free labour-movement agreement, but I doubt even he would be prepared to trade US trade in for CANZUK, meaning he'd go for CANZUK only if he could keep the border open for trade with the US too. And he'd probably be hesitant to sacrifice EU trade for CANZUK too.

 

[mentalfloss]

Also, it's obviously hypocritical of Britain to want independence but bind themselves to another international coalition.

 

[White_Unifier]

If we want absolute (or near absolute) sovereignty, we need look no farther than North Korea for inspiration. And even it is not totally sovereign as it does rely on China to a degree.

The most successful countries are the ones that are willing to trade a moderate degree of sovereignty in exchange for unity and consequently larger markets. It's the way it is. Sovereignty is not something to be worshipped.