What's good enough for Canada

[Gob]

is good enough for the UK.

Boris Johnson has set out his vision for a trade deal with the EU, saying there is "no need" for the UK to follow Brussels' rules.

The PM called for a Canada-style free trade deal, saying the UK would return to the Withdrawal Agreement if such a deal was not reached.

But the EU's Michel Barnier said its "ambitious" trade deal offer required a "level playing field".

Mr Barnier also said there should be reciprocal access to fishing waters.

The Irish PM also said the UK needed to agree to a level playing field.

Under the EU-Canada deal, import tariffs on most goods have been eliminated between the two countries, though there are still customs and VAT checks.

The flow of services, such as banking - which is much more important for the UK - between Canada and the EU are much more restricted.

Leo Varadkar told the BBC on Sunday a Canada-style deal with the UK was possible - but that "Canada isn't the UK" and there was a need for common rules and standards.

In his speech in Greenwich, London, the PM said: "We have often been told that we must choose between full access to the EU market, along with accepting its rules and courts on the Norway model, or an ambitious free trade agreement, which opens up markets and avoids the full panoply of EU regulation, on the example of Canada.

The EU has negotiated 35 trade agreements for its member states, with another 22 pending.

But it says "the most ambitious trade agreement that the EU has ever concluded" is with Canada.

It's called the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Signed in October 2016, it provisionally came into force last September. The only remaining step is for all the countries to ratify it, which could take several years.

But exporters and importers have been working under its rules for a year, and many now believe the CETA model could be a template for the UK's trading relationship with the EU after Brexit.

Some 98% of all tariffs on goods traded between Canada and the EU have become duty free. Most tariffs were removed when the agreement came into force a year ago. All will be removed within seven years.

It means Canadian importers will not have to pay €590m (£529m) in taxes on the goods they receive from the EU, and European importers will see tariffs reduced to zero on some 9,000 Canadian products.

The EU and Canada will open up public contracts at local, regional and federal levels to each other's contractors - that means Canadian companies, say, pitching to build French railways or British builders bidding to construct an Ontario school.

It protects EU "geographical indications", meaning you can only make prosciutto di Parma ham in Italy and camembert cheese in France, and Canada can't import something that calls itself camembert from any other country inside or outside the EU.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45633592

"We have made our choice - we want a free trade agreement, similar to Canada's but in the very unlikely event that we do not succeed, then our trade will have to be based on our existing Withdrawal Agreement with the EU.

"The choice is emphatically not 'deal or no deal'. The question is whether we agree a trading relationship with the EU comparable to Canada's - or more like Australia's.

"In either case, I have no doubt that Britain will prosper mightily."

He rejected the requirement for the UK to adopt Brussels-made rules "on competition policy, subsidies, social protection, the environment, or anything similar, any more than the EU should be obliged to accept UK rules".

The PM added that he will seek "a pragmatic agreement on security, protecting our citizens without trespassing on the autonomy of our respective legal systems".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51351914

[Scooter]

CETA took ten years to negotiate, and almost fell apart over a snit fit by some farmers in Wallonia. And it doesn't come anywhere close to permitting the free movement of goods and services that exist within the EU.

Which is to say, a Canada-like trade deal will neither be as easy to put together, nor will it render the level of benefits, that Johnson would pretend.

[wesw]

c0uld y0u be any m0re bitchy?

[Scooter]

The facts are a bitch for you, we've come to understand that.

You can get back to diddling with your grandson now.

[rubato]

So in 7-10 years the UK will have a trade deal? Brilliant. Meantime the financial services center will shift to Paris and most UK products will have been replaced.

Good thing you like to live in mud huts; although you call them "cobb"


yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

So in 7-10 years the UK will have a trade deal? Brilliant. Meantime the financial services center will shift to Paris and most UK products will have been replaced.

Oh god, here he goes again....

Good thing you like to live in mud huts; although you call them "cobb"


yrs,
rubato

Not that cobb has anything to do with the subject at hand, but, you know, Aspergers peoplehave difficulty following normal social interactions...

Cobb is a well known and very versatile building material, rubato, being ignorant of most things, would not have the intellectual capacity to cope with that though.

Then at some point in our excitement we get a rude awakening to the thought of how we might actually go about building a cob building in our bureaucratic, twisted society. We tend to worry about how we’ll make it past all the laws, regulations, and building codes required to build according to our own imaginations. Not to mention the expensive inspections!

In the United States, we follow the International Building Code. This is supposed to be here to safeguard us from dangerous and risky construction methods. While it’s not totally useless and offers some true benefits, it is narrow minded in its scope and hinders creative ideas and innovation. David Eisenberg further explains and expands on the narrow minded thought patterns of building officials and how following the IBC can actually backfire on our safety.

Don’t let the thought of codes and regulations get you down. Keep pushing the boundaries and creating and innovate. Some people might look at us as crazy for what we do, but we’re on the cutting edge here. It’s to be expected.

The future of building belongs to us. We need to keep networking and educating people on the advantages of natural building methods like cob. Sooner or later, more people will wake up to the reasons why we use the methods of building that we do.

As people realize the need, we could get building codes enacted for cob and not have to worry about this issue anymore.

Shame...