Canada, UK agree to establish trade working group, expand defense collaboration

OTTAWA, – Canada and the United Kingdom on Sunday, the proposals of the next six months to the prime ministers of the relevant countries agreed to establish a trade group.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer came to Canada for bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Mark Carney before the G7 Leaders Summit in Alberta from Sunday to Tuesday.

Carney, especially steel, aluminums and cars, sectors to strengthen the trade of the country to strengthen and diversify allies.

“We will establish newly structured England-Canada Economic and Trade Working Group to deepen our current trade relationship.” He said.

The working group will try to address market access barriers, expand regulations to areas such as digital trade, and discover cooperation to develop critical minerals and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Although the UK is an important trade partner for Canada, it represents only a small share of Canada’s exports. According to the Canadian Conference Board, in 2024, the UK represented 3.6% of exports and 1.2% of imports for the country.

Exports to the UK are mainly dominated by gold and energy products.

In a joint statement, Canada will bring legislation in the second half of the year to approve the participation of Britain in the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, a Free Trade Group of 11 countries.

The group consists of Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and Canada.

The UK has gained access to nine countries as part of the Indo-Pacific Trade Agreement last year and is still waiting for its approved by Canada and Mexico.

In the statement, the two countries will expand defense cooperation, including Ukrainian support.

This article was created from an automatic news agency feeding without changing the text.