OTTAWA—It is billed as a meeting of allies but it may not necessarily be a meeting of minds.

When British Prime Minister Theresa May, leader of a minority Conservative government, meets Monday in Ottawa with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the global poster boy for liberalism, they’ll hash over issues of international relations, trade, and national security.

No doubt the two leaders will emerge touting nation-to-nation ties and international cooperation in the face of challenges like climate change and North Korea.

They’ve met before, on the sidelines of the G7 summit in May in Italy, but have not sat down to hold formal bilateral talks. Both are headed to the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York.

May (who likes fancy footwear) and Trudeau (who likes fancy socks) are likely to agree on many items: the need to increase high-level government contacts, improvements to digital services delivered by governments and within governments, and the need to deepen economic ties — somehow.

But they’ll just as likely differ on others: how exactly to further trade, how much to increase internet surveillance to combat terrorism, or how hard to push back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s occasional blasts of bombast.

May and Trudeau have already found common ground in the past month, in the name of protecting jobs in Canada and Northern Ireland. Canada and Britain united in opposition to American aerospace giant Boeing’s trade challenge of Canadian government support for Bombardier’s C-series passenger jet program. May’s government has lobbied U.S. officials on behalf of Canada’s Bombardier which employs about 5,000 at plant in Belfast.

However, in a post-Brexit era where the British government is trying to negotiate a clean but advantageous break from the European Union, questions loom about just how far Canada can adopt a business-as-usual approach to Canada-U.K. relations.

The EU has poured cold water on British proposals to keep customs and trade advantages of that union even after it leaves in March 2019, and Britain is barred by EU law from advancing its trade prospects by negotiating deals with other countries outside of the EU until after it has left.

Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s lead coordinator on Brexit, mocked the British government for wanting to eat trade cake and have it too. He tweeted: “To be in & out of the Customs Union & ‘invisible borders’ is a fantasy.”

Canada’s own free trade deal with the European Union, which eliminates barriers to trade in goods, services, labour mobility, investment protection, intellectual property and government procurement, is not yet in effect. Most of its provisions – 98 per cent – come into force Sept. 21. So Trudeau doesn’t want to tick off EU leaders and member states by cozying up to May on trade.

Still, Britain is Canada’s biggest trading partner in Europe, and third overall in the world after the United States and China. May would like the benefits of CETA to continue, and Ottawa’s admitted it’s had “informal” talks about the future of trade with Britain.

In the words of a Canadian official, the Trudeau government has a diplomatic “dance” to do when it comes to Britain and any future trade deals May wants to talk about.

Canada is of course a military ally of the U.K.; both are members along with the U.S., New Zealand and Australia of the so-called “Five Eyes” network that shares security and military intelligence.

May’s government would like to see fewer obstacles to greater information sharing among its allies, however Canada “is more cautious” on questions of internet privacy rights than the U.K., officials here say, and is likely to resist lifting privacy protections.

Nor do Canada and the U.K. see eye-to-eye on Canada’s decision to purchase 18 Super Hornet jet fighters until it could finalize a replacement for the aging Canadian fleet of F-18s. They were once among partners of the U.S. in its F-35 joint strike fighter development program. But Trudeau promised in the campaign “We will not buy the F-35 stealth fighter-bomber.” He promised to re-open the competition and his government announced it would buy Boeing’s Super Hornets as an “interim” solution– a move the British government sees as a waste of time, according to a British official.

(That purchase too is up in the air with Canada now hinting Boeing’s trade complaint about Bombardier threatens to scupper the Super Hornet purchase.)

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In a statement last week to announce May’s visit, Trudeau said they would discuss “issues of mutual interest, including innovation, security, climate change, the importance of trade, and advancing gender equality.”

“Canada and the U.K. enjoy a deep and enduring relationship, forged by centuries of shared history, traditions, and family ties. I look forward to meeting with Prime Minister May again to build on our economic partnership and set the stage for even closer cooperation and greater opportunities for all of our citizens.”

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