Freeland’s next trade target: the U.K.
• Canada’s international trade minister has strongly rebuked the growing anti-trade rhetoric in the United States, saying this country’s agreement with the European Union is about “building bridges and not building walls.”
“It is a message that Canada and Europe are embracing an open society,” Chrystia Freeland told reporters Monday in Ottawa, after returning from Brussels, where Canada officially signed a years- in- the- making freetrade pact with the EU.
At the same time, Freeland said Canada is actively seeking a separate trade deal with the U.K. following the Brexit vote in June to leave the European Union.
“We have had close conversations with the U. K. throughout ( the period following the Brexit vote) ... and we’ve been in close contact with them,” the minister said. “As you know, Britain is still part of the EU.
“Britain has not yet evoked Article 50,” Freeland added, referring to the legal EU guideline for members to begin the process of leaving the 28- nation union. “But we’re in close touch with Britain and we’re in close touch with the EU.”
Freeland said the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, is not just a trade agreement, “it is also a very important message from Europe, from Canada, to the world that open, progressive globalization is possible — that, even in 2016, it’s possible to have policies that are about building bridges and not building walls.”
Sunday’s agreement in Brussels cleared the way for the Liberal government to table legislation in Ottawa to review the implementation of CETA — an agreement that has been seven years in the making and had faced an eleventh- hour delay due to initial opposition by the Belgian region of Wallonia over the pact’s controversial investor-state settlement mechanism. That clause, which gives businesses the right to sue governments if policies affect their investments, is still being fine-tuned.
The overall trade deal needs to be ratified by individual EU state lawmakers. About 99 per cent of the agreement will come into effect once it is ratified by the European Parliament. CETA is anticipated to raise trade between Canadian and the EU by 20 per cent.
“The government is now very, very focused on working with our exporters to be sure they understand the opportunities that this new market holds,” Freeland said. “Even as we are working with the Europeans on finalizing how dispute settlement works, CETA — in provincial application — will bring tremendous economic opportunities.”
Martin Schulz, the president of the EU parliament told the Canadian trade minister that he hoped to hold a vote on CETA ratification sometime in December, Freeland added.
“That is very good news,” she said. “Yes, there is more to do, but we now definitely see a clear next step, which will bring the agreement into effect for Canadian workers, for Canadian companies.”
But the minister said she is “very concerned about protectionist rhetoric that we’re hearing in the United States.”
“The protectionist backlash that we’re seeing a lot in the world, including in Europe, is dangerous. It’s dangerous for the world and it’s dangerous for Canadians. In being able to get CETA signed … Canada has done something very powerful and very strong in the world to push back against that.”