Canada, EU reach last-minute free-trade deal

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Ont.

A Canada-EU free trade deal put in jeopardy by a Belgian region veto will likely be signed in the next few days after an 11th hour breakthrough was reached Thursday.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was supposed to fly to Brussels on Thursday to officially sign the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), but the trip was canceled late Wednesday as officials wrangled to reach consensus, Canadian media reported.

Trudeau will be contacted “only once all the procedures are finalized for EU signing CETA,” EU President Donald Tusk said at a press conference, The Associated Press reported.

The agreement between Canada and the EU is a wide-ranging deal that removed tariff barriers on most trade goods and is “by far Canada’s most ambitious trade initiative,” Global Affairs Canada said on its website. In 2015, bilateral trade in goods between Canada and the 28-nation EU was worth €63.5 billion (CAN$93 million), according to the EU trade website.

But the deal, seven years in the making, was put in jeopardy after the Wallonian region of Belgium refused to agree to the terms, worried that cheaper goods from Canada would hurt the farming and labor sectors, as well as lessen environmental and consumer standards.

The agreement needed to be signed by all EU members, so the deal between 500 million EU residents and 35 million Canadians was effectively held up by 3.6 million residents of Wallonia.

The Wallonian concerns were addressed during last-minute negotiations early Thursday.

“This is good news,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said Thursday, as reported by the AP.

Wallonia President Paul Magnette apologized for holding up CETA, but said the agreement is stronger now that it addresses Wallonia’s concerns.

“I am sorry for all the other Europeans we made wait and for our Canadian partners,” he said. “But if we took a bit of time, what we achieved here is important, not only for Wallonia but for all Europeans.”

He said CETA would serve as a framework for other free-trade talks between the EU and other countries like the United States and Japan, the AP reported.

It is unclear when Trudeau will fly to Brussels to sign the deal.