Canadian firms slow to seize trade opportunities under CETA: EU official
In a warehouse on the outskirts of town, European trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom surveyed rows of boxedup electric bicycles bound for bike-share systems from Honolulu to Sao Paulo.
“I wouldn’t bother with the Netherlands,” she said to PBSC Urban Solutions’ CEO. “Too flat.”
With freshly-inked deals in Spain and France, the Montrealarea provider of bike-sharing solutions exemplifies the possibilities of the year-old Canadaeu free trade accord.
Still, Malmstrom says a lack of awareness in Canada and a wave of anti-globalization nationalism abroad may be contributing to the country’s sluggish start to seizing opportunities in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
“The biggest hurdle is that not enough companies are aware of its possibilities,” Malmstrom said in an interview Wednesday.
“And we have a wave of politically quite nationalistic governments and political parties in the European Union. We are trying to overcome that antiglobalization feeling — true feelings
that people feel left behind in the economic crisis.
“Trade is used by some political parties for blame,” she added.
CETA has been in effect provisionally for one year, eliminating tariffs on 98 per cent of goods flowing between Canada and the European Union, according to Global Affairs Canada.
However, figures from Statistics Canada show that after years of modest growth, Canadian exports to the EU grew just one per cent year-overyear
in the first 10 months after CETA’S implementation. Meanwhile, imports from the EU shot up more than 12 per cent between October and July, compared to the same period in 2016-17.
“It does show that Europe has been a little quicker out of the gate compared to Canadian businesses,” said Mark Agnew, director of international policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
“Part of the pitch that Canada makes about the value of inward investment is that you have access to the North American market. And obviously if NAFTA is not there, it becomes a little more difficult to pitch that narrative when talking to investors.”
Building relationships and supply chains takes time, he stressed, and the Europeans have more experience in diversifying trade.
“It is a tough grind to be out there and pound the pavement with buyers on the other side of the ocean,” Agnew said.
The strained relations between the U.S. and both Canada and the EU — President Donald Trump slapped hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from both jurisdictions in May — should underscore the need to find more trade partners, he added.
Canadian aluminum exports to the EU surged 206 per cent in the 10 months after Sept. 21, 2017, when a three per cent tariff was dropped. Exports of motor vehicles and parts to Europe shot up 96 per cent as more passenger vehicles headed across the Atlantic, benefiting from lowered car tariffs of 7.5 per cent this year from 10 per cent in 2017 amid a phase-out that stretches to 2024.