There are parallels between the way companies in North America and Britain are holding back on investment as they wait for clarity on the re-negotiation of NAFTA and the outcome of talks on a Brexit deal, Canada’s finance minister said on Mon
“Certainly anecdotally in North America there are some businesses that are being cautious about investments because there is an expectation that NAFTA could be slightly different tomorrow than it was yesterday,” Bill Morneau said in a speech in London.
“I just assume that is a similar situation here. Hopefully (that’s) one to be overcome as more clarity comes out.”
Morneau reiterated that he hoped Canada would have at least as good a trade arrangement with Britain after Brexit as now, taking its current CETA deal with the EU as a model, and said close ties with Britain remained critically important.
This was excerpted from the 12 March 2018 edition of Reuters Canada.