Kemi Badenoch’s explicit assertion that trade talks with Canada are “ongoing” has been slammed down by the Canadian high commissioner to the UK, who says that’s a load of old cobblers.
The business secretary, who is already embroiled in a feud with the former Post Office chief, Henry Staunton, gave MPs assurance that post-Brexit discussions with Canada remain ongoing to avoid a March 31 tariff cliff-edge for UK carmakers.
Currently, Canada charges a 0.7 per cent tariff on cars, something that left UK exporters paying around £3.2 million last year after selling 9,000 vehicles in the market, according to calculations from Ian Henry of AutoAnalysis published in the Financial Times.
Without a deal, Canada is proposing to charge 6.1 per cent on vehicles, which would see the bill rise to £28 million. This could climb as high as £46 million if Canada instead imposed WTO tariffs of 10 per cent.
But the sum, which is pretty paltry compared to the size of the market, is far less consequential compared to the fact that Badenoch could have misled the House by assuring MPs that talks were “ongoing” to try and avoid a tariff hike.
On January 29th, Badenoch explicitly told MPs that talks with Canada were ongoing, saying:
“This is a good opportunity for me to state explicitly that the talks have not broken down. We are having multiple discussions with Canada on cheese, in which we have not come to an agreement.”
She added: “We have an ongoing rules-of-origin discussion, and we have an FTA discussion, which I have paused.”
Ralph Goodale, the Canadian high commissioner to the UK, has since written to Liam Byrne, chair of the business committee, to challenge her account.
His letter, seen by the FT, said that Canada was “disappointed with the unilateral pause in these negotiations”.
He added: “As far as I’m aware, since the UK announced its pause on January 25, there have been neither negotiations nor technical discussions with respect to any of the outstanding issues — including British access to Canada’s Tariff Rate Quotas for cheese and the approaching expiry of cumulation provisions respecting Rules of Origin.”
Byrne has since demanded that Badenoch correct the record on the trade talks, saying:
“It is essential the secretary of state now explains why the Canadians’ account of the talks is so utterly at variance with what she told the House of Commons.”
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