The U.K. halted talks on a free trade agreement with Canada, according to a post on the social media platform X by the British High Commissioner to Canada Susannah Goshko. A statement posted by Goshko, attributed to a U.K. spokesperson, said the British government reserves "the right to pause negotiations with any country if progress is not being made." The U.K. said it remains open to resuming talks "in the future to build a stronger trading relationship that benefits businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic."

U.S. negotiators will travel to Kenya to have talks under the Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership at the end of the month. "The negotiators last met in person under the STIP in October 2023 in Washington, DC, and have continued to make progress in deepening mutual understanding and resolving differences," the Office of U.S. Trade Representative said. The discussions will cover agriculture, good regulatory practices and workers' rights, it said.

The U.S. says its "mini deal" approach is better than traditional free trade deals, because of their speed and focus on current problems, and while two trade experts didn't dismiss FTAs as a 20th-century tool, they acknowledged those advantages mean mini deals are here to stay.

Switzerland and India have reached an agreement on a free trade deal, Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin announced on X, formerly Twitter. Parmelin said the two countries achieved "solutions to the main open issues of" the deal, which the two sides have been negotiating for years. "After 16 years of negotiations, we have reached agreement on the basic principles of" a deal he said, according to an unofficial translation. "So that this can be signed as soon as possible, our teams are working hard to clarify the last outstanding details."

Both Asian countries and American businesses had hoped that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework could be a step on the road to lowering tariffs, trade experts said during a webinar on the future of IPEF, but now they're wondering if there will be any economically significant effect at all from talks about trade facilitation, green transition and supply chain resilience.

India and the U.S. should aim for "economically meaningful outcomes" from better customs and trade facilitation, supply chain linkages, trade in high-tech products and trade in critical minerals between the two countries, India's commerce minister and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a joint statement.

The European Council said Dec. 12 it "adopted a decision on the signing" of the EU-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement, which will provide "duty-free, quota-free EU market access" to all imports from Kenya. It also will lead to the "gradual opening of the Kenyan market to imports from the EU." The agreement will enter into force after the council signs it, and after it's approved by the European Parliament.

Asian countries in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and businesses that export to those countries had low expectations for IPEF, and trade experts said it will take years to see if IPEF will have any commercially meaningful outcomes.

The EU this week ratified its free trade deal with New Zealand (see 2307100014), setting up the agreement to take effect after New Zealand’s ratification, which the bloc is expecting in the first or second quarter of 2024. The deal is expected to cut about 140 million euros, or about $150 million, a year in duties for EU companies, the EU said, including by eliminating all tariffs on EU exports to New Zealand. The bloc specifically said EU farmers will have “much better opportunities to sell their produce,” including shipments of pork, wine and sparkling wine, chocolate, sugar confectionery and biscuits. New Zealand exports of dairy products, beef, sheep, ethanol and sweetcorn also will benefit from lower EU duties through tariff rate quotas.

The U.K. and South Korea last week agreed to officially update their free trade agreement, which is expected to include a new rules of origin chapter, improved customs procedures and more. The two countries will hold the first round of negotiations Jan. 22 in Seoul, and “further rounds of negotiations are to occur regularly thereafter,” the U.K. said. “We look forward to significant and rapid progress.”