Australia 'on the same page' as Canada as it seeks deeper EU alliance

consumer451

The reddit post links to: https://www.reuters.com/business/australia-on-same-page-cana...

s_dev

For me the most striking thing about this was before the Brexit referendum there was rhetoric about how the UK would form a CANZUK alliance with free movement of people and goods between these countries, forming a sort of English speaking EU. Even if Canada and Australia don't join the EU as full members which is unlikely anyway (deeper ties are definitely on the table though), these sort of announcements should put to bed these complete and utter fantasies the UK has about leading some alternative world order where it's in charge and can go toe to toe with the EU. https://boris-johnson.com/2013/08/25/the-aussies-are-just-li... https://www.ippr.org/articles/could-the-idea-of-the-anglosph... Even many British would agree that Brexit was full of absolute lies, and even to this day you still see them being repeated in certain circles. These weren't even possibilities.

svara

Amazing, let's please do Japan and Taiwan next.

BIGFOOT_EXISTS

LOL Canada should seek deeper internal alliances first. Since 2015, every year the QoL gets worse.

dmix

Canada has long had a very good free trade deal with the EU, which eliminated 98% of tariffs in 2016 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Economic_and_Tra...

ovi256

It has always surprised me that the 'free world', NATO countries, developed countries (including Japan, Taiwan, Australia), however one wants to call them, do not have at least free trade, if not free movement of people and capital, between them. A travesty, IMO. And a great loss making us all poorer. Not a patchwork of point-to-point free trade agreements, but several hub agreements that countries join, and, in time, the hubs agree to free trade between them too.

dismalaf

Canada doesn't even have free trade internally... It's literally easier to sell to the US or EU than to another province.

valeg

PRC's trade surplus is pushing for a wide customs union. This is a part of this trend.

world2vec

An "expanded" Schengen Area that crosses the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and brings Canada, Australia (and Japan, maybe?) into the fold would be an incredible thing. I'm all for it.

landosaari

Step 0: be included in Eurovision Australia 2015 √ Canada 2027 √

gumby

From the Reuters article: > Australia and the European Union signed a free trade agreement in March after eight years of negotiations, removing tariffs on almost all goods and potentially easing EU access to Australian critical minerals. Reuters left out the most interesting part which is to allow service providers to work on either side and four year visas (which include work) in both directions.

penguin_booze

This is a positive sign: free-minded, aligned, progressive nations clustering together. Suggested next steps are to form a single market, military, issue common trade currency, move off US dollar, stop trading with the US, thereby restoring sovereignty and enacting your own laws etc. All, of course, is a ramp to eventually shunning the US: the global bully. Yes, we can!