Canada, EU Edge Closer To Trade Deal

Canada and the European Union are holding a ninth round of talks on a free trade agreement, with the negotiations described by the Canadian government as the most significant trade initiative in fifteen years.

The talks, underway in Ottawa, are scheduled to last until October 21. Ed Fast, Canadian Minister of International Trade said that: “Working alongside our negotiators, Canada and the EU are moving closer to an ambitious agreement that has the potential to boost two-way trade by 20%, creating prosperity and opportunity for Canadian businesses, workers and their families”.

Negotiations toward an FTA began in October 2009. The Canadian government says that, to date, significant progress has been achieved in such areas as goods, services, investment and government procurement. It is believed that a deal would bring considerable benefits to many sectors in the Canadian economy, including manufacturing, aerospace, chemicals, plastics, aluminium, wood products, and fish and seafood, along with other commodity- and resource-based businesses.

Fast added that the talks represent “our most significant trade initiative since the North American Free Trade Agreement”, in force since 1994. Canada has concluded FTAs with nine jurisdictions in the last six years, and is in ongoing negotiations with, among others, India, where a trade deal is expected to boost the Canadian economy by at least CAD6bn (USD5.85bn).

Fast stressed that with trade accounting for over 60% of Canada's annual GDP, and with one in five Canadian jobs dependent on trade, a Canada-EU trade agreement "is a key part of our government’s job-creating, pro-trade plan”.

Defending his government's free trade policy, Fast said that: “Some critics manufacture baseless fears and wilfully ignore the real benefits that a Canada-EU trade agreement will bring. The facts clearly show the real benefits of a Canada-EU trade agreement: a CAD12bn annual boost to Canada’s economy, a CAD1,000 increase in the average Canadian family’s income and almost 80,000 new jobs.”

”In these globally uncertain economic times, an agreement with the European Union will help to protect and strengthen the financial security of hard-working Canadian families”, Fast concluded.

October 18, 2011

Source: Tax News