Canada approves free trade agreement with Ukraine, after 3 months of waiting

The House of Commons of Canada has passed a bill on an updated free trade agreement with Ukraine, which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed in September.

Source: CBC

Details: The bill was passed despite criticism from the conservative opposition, which was unhappy with the carbon pricing provision.

"In order for this trade deal to be implemented, Ukraine must agree to promote a carbon tax. That is not something we can support," Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer said.

The trade agreement does not impose an obligation on the Ukrainian government to introduce a carbon tax. It contains a provision that the two countries will cooperate to "promote carbon pricing and measures to mitigate carbon leakage risks."

Earlier, Forbes Ukraine noted that there are also other topics of concern to the Canadian opposition, including the following:

• The agreement does not contain a section on energy and energy security; in particular, it does not take into account the interests of Canadian companies that are ready to export liquefied natural gas, small modular nuclear reactors and uranium.
• The text is too long and there is not enough time to analyse it for non-tariff barriers, in particular for Canadian companies.
• It is unclear how products sent to/from temporarily occupied territories will be qualified under the updated agreement.

The vote came on the same day that a poll was released showing that support for Ukraine is waning among a growing number of Canadians, especially among conservative voters.

The poll, conducted by the Angus Reid Institute, found that a quarter of Canadians believe that Canada is providing "too much support" to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, compared to 13% who said so in May 2022.

Next, the bill must pass the Senate of Canada.

Background: In October, Mary Ing, Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development of Canada, presented the text of a modernised free trade agreement (FTA) with Ukraine for the Parliament's consideration.

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