00:00Let's talk a bit more about who's going to be getting what out of this arrangement.
00:05Let's bring in Ali Reddison, who's a former UK Trade Department official,
00:09now Senior Counsel at Consoltency SEC Newgate.
00:13Great to have you on Global Business again.
00:15What might Canada actually get from becoming an associate member of the EU?
00:21Well, thanks for having me.
00:22I think the big question is what does associate membership actually mean?
00:26It is provided for that we have association agreements,
00:29but those are more formal sort of trade agreements.
00:32We don't actually know what the contours of this are,
00:34but I think what Canada is hoping to get,
00:36apart from certainly the kudos of being on the world stage,
00:40not so much depending on relations with the U.S. anymore,
00:44is certainly, for example, easier visa rules into Europe for its Canadian citizens,
00:50certainly when it comes to defence and manufacturing sort of contracts,
00:54more ability to tender for those in Europe.
00:56But I think right now the big picture, top line takeaway is that Mark Carney wants to make sure
01:02that the world knows that he is seeking other allies outside of North America.
01:06What about Europe, though?
01:08What's the economic prize here?
01:10We've heard a little bit from our correspondent about some of the possibilities,
01:12but there's disquiet.
01:15There is.
01:16Now, it's interesting that when you look at the fact that EU and Canada do have an existing agreement,
01:21but the Europeans don't have very good access into the Canadian dairy sector.
01:26They also want to see alternatives of defence supplier contracts in terms of not relying on the uncertainty
01:33with respect to sort of the U.S. suppliers at the moment because of relations with the United States.
01:39Similarly, they would like to have easier access for specific sectors on visa rules,
01:44including for touring artists.
01:46But really, I think that it depends on what the contours of this, if not even membership,
01:51but certainly agreement would look like.
01:52I think it's also looking at collaboration beyond sort of a trade agreement,
01:55which is a bit more sensitive in areas like artificial intelligence, security.
01:59And we have to remember that, obviously, that Canada did actually was invited to participate
02:04in European defence of supply contract procurements.
02:07So there is a bit of a foothold there already.
02:10Just the devil will be in the detail of what the scope actually is.
02:13And we're hearing that Australia is also looking at closer ties with the European Union.
02:18Could this be a new model for how the bloc does business with countries outside Europe?
02:24I know there's still a lot to finesse, but what do you think?
02:28Quite possibly.
02:29I think the UK will be potentially a little bit bitter if that happens,
02:32because the UK, after it left the EU, was certainly advocating for a new kind of model
02:37of arrangements with countries between countries and the European Union.
02:41Now, the UK is much closer geographically to the EU.
02:44So the EU wanted to make sure that the UK followed its regulatory rulebook.
02:47But I do think that when you look at Canada and Australia,
02:51Australia is actually part of Eurovision, the song contest in Europe.
02:54Maybe this is a new pretext for how it does relationships with countries a little bit further afield.
02:59Ali Renison, thank you very much for your insight.
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