Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Baker Excerpts

Thursday 19th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

There we are.

[Mr Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)]

What recent progress she has made on concluding a free trade agreement with Canada; and if she will make a statement.

[The Secretary of State for International Trade (Elizabeth Truss)]

We are determined to reach a deal with Canada before the end of the year. It is a fellow G7 member and one of the top 10 economies in the world. It will help our trade, from cars to beef, fish and whisky, in a trading relationship already worth £20 billion.

[Mr Baker]

I was glad to see the good news on Bloomberg that there is great hope that we will conclude that deal. Does the Secretary of State share my hope that Canada, like Japan, will go further with us in agreeing free trade than it has with the European Union?

[Elizabeth Truss]

What we are negotiating at the moment is the vital continuity agreement, but I do hope that, in the future, as Canada is a member of the trans-Pacific partnership that has advanced chapters in areas such as data and digital, we will be able to go much further and build a much deeper relationship.