Post by victoria on Jul 1, 2016 3:23:34 GMT -5
TTIP: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_Trade_and_Investment_Partnership
A trade union with Canada and the US? Are people in England really keen on leaning even further over the Atlantic? Canada surely is a nice place but is has just 40m people compared to the the 450m non-UK market in the EU. England, basically London, would play a limited role in such a trade union, more like a financial beachhead to Europe seen in Brussels as mere satellite dependent on Washington. Frankfurt would certainly like to take over some EU business from London. What did weird Nigel say about freedom and independence..
Fascinating what the Turkish government achieved when they opened the gates to Europe to improve their position in negotiations about their EU accession.
Ireland and Scotland did indeed vote strongly to remain in the EU as did London, and hence the uk has a major issue now with at least possible Scottish independence so that it can join the EU.
In terms of usa-can-uk trade, I doubt there would be usa dominance. The uk and usa mutual trade is very balanced with neither side dominating so I suspect even more free trade would mean more trade, on both sides but not necessarily any more imbalance than the quite well balanced situation at present. Here is a quote from wikipedia:
"The United States accounts for the United Kingdom's largest single export market, buying $57 billion worth of British goods in 2007. Total trade of imports and exports between the United Kingdom and the United States amounted to the sum of $107.2 billion in 2007.
The United States and the United Kingdom share the world's largest foreign direct investment partnership. In 2005, American direct investment in the United Kingdom totaled $324 billion while British direct investment in the United States totaled $282 billion."
In terms of Canada, free trade would be good in more personal terms: many uk families have Canadian relatives and we share the same Head of State and, in the anglophone provinces, and really to a large degree in fracophone ones too IMHO, very similar cultures. And Canada has enormous natural resources which no doubt the UK will wish to trade around and invest in for the foreseeable future. Having said that, trade is currently significant both ways, here is the Wikipedia quote for Canada-UK trade:
"The UK is by far Canada’s most important commercial partner in Europe and, from a global perspective, ranks third after the United States and China. In 2010 total bilateral trade reached over C$27.1 billion, and over the last five years the UK has been Canada’s second- largest goods export market. The UK is an important source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Canada, ranking third after the United States and the Netherlands, and Canadian companies invest heavily in the UK. In 2010, the two-way stock of investment stood at almost CDN$115 billion.[1]
On 9 February 2011, the boards of the London Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange agreed to a deal in which both holding companies for the stock exchanges would merge, creating a leading exchange group with the largest number of listed companies in the world, and a combined market capitalisation of £3.7 trillion (C$5.8 trillion). The merger was ultimately cancelled on 29 June 2011 when it became obvious TMX shareholders would not give the needed two-thirds approval.[2]
Canada and the UK – as members of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the European Union respectively – are working together on negotiations towards a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union. If approved, the agreement will begin to come into effect in 2016.[1]
In 2013, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada resigned in order to take up a position as Governor of the Bank of England."
(Worth noting that CETA terms have now been finalised subject to legal processes being followed, and the UK stands to lose CETA if it leaves the EU, and hence Canada stands to lose the UK trade via CETA, so its in its interests and the UK's interests to do a deal quickly with each other. ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/ceta/index_en.htm )
My comment about adopting the dollar was a bit of an off the cuff remark but if I ask myself whether it would be good for the uk if dollars were accepted in shops here as well as pounds, I'm drawn to the answer "yes" since it would remove one more barrier to people coming here to live or visit, and to spend their money in our economy.
When investing in US stocks I use a US trading account and have a dollar ATM card and chequebook which I can use in the US. I have a Canadian checking account for when I'm there: making such things easy to do has I suspect been good for us all.