Overview

• UK and Canada trade talks have been halted after nearly two years of negotiations, marking the first time the UK has formally halted talks with a trade partner since formally leaving the EU trading regime in 2021.
• The major sticking points in the deal are understood to be exports of British cheese and imports of beef from Canada to the UK.
• Canada's government had been facing political pressure from domestic cheese producers and had been pushing for the UK to relax a ban on hormone-treated beef, which its producers say effectively shuts them out of the British market.
• Higher import taxes on British cheese sold in Canada kicked in earlier this month, after the previous terms expired at the end of 2023.
• Britain’s trading terms with Canada will now be less favourable than they were when the UK was a member of the EU.