(Ottawa) Five years after it was signed, the ratification of Canada’s trade agreement with the European Union (EU) still remains uncertain.
Posted at 8:50 a.m.
A dispute over how companies can sue governments remains unresolved. Still, Canadian trade experts say the deal remains a major victory at a time of supply chain disruptions and pushback against globalization.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, known as CETA, entered into force provisionally on September 21, 2017, with the signatures of the European Commission and the Canadian government.
Since then, trade between Canada and the EU has increased by 33%, amounting to $100 billion in goods and services last year.
Canada’s exports to Europe increased, from seafood to auto parts, while the EU sent more pharmaceuticals and meat.
Yet the deal is not legally in place until all 27 bloc members ratify it individually.
Lawrence Herman, a Toronto trade lawyer, points out that the key elements of the agreement on tariffs, digital trade and government procurement are in place.
“It’s in place in a very concrete way,” said Mr. Herman. I don’t think CETA will ever be officially ratified. »
Mechanism for complaints
The most contentious issue concerns the mechanisms countries can use to seek compensation and rectify disagreements with national, state and provincial governments.
The idea is to set up a neutral mechanism to hear complaints beyond the courts, which could be influenced by national governments.
Labor and environmental activists have argued that it would give up sovereignty over everything from consumer protection to worker safety.
A top German court in February rejected arguments that the provision undermines the country’s constitution, but the clause remains controversial in Germany, which is among 12 countries that have not ratified CETA.
Mr. Herman noted that in many of these countries the opposition is only growing stronger. “I just don’t see it coming into effect permanently,” he added.
Jason Langrish, executive director of the Canada-Europe Trade Forum, agrees.
“There’s a good chance it’s kind of staying in limbo,” said Langrish, who worked on CETA’s precursor in Canada’s delegation to the European Union and helped represent industry groups in the CETA negotiations.
” The [tribunal] investor-state has been exaggerated,” he argued.
Commerce Minister Mary Ng was unavailable for an interview on Tuesday as she traveled overseas.
But his office stressed that Canada and EU countries will appoint the members of the proposed tribunal, who will be “subject to rigorous ethical commitments, as well as a robust appeals mechanism.”
“This agreement gives Canadian farmers, producers, processors and exporters preferential access to more than half a billion consumers across the EU,” said bureau spokesman Chris Zhou.
Less dependent on the United States
According to Langrish, the main success of CETA was to formalize the rules regarding the large volume of trade that the two parties were already doing, making Canada less dependent on the United States.
” Whereas [l’ex-président américain, Donald] Trump was coming and going and protectionism was becoming the order of the day, and we were having all these difficulties with China, it was nice to have this relationship with Europe as a kind of protection,” he said. -he explains.
“It sent a signal to the Canadian and EU business community that they were both committed to each other and wanted this to be a long-term partnership. »
CETA has been in the works since 2004, with the Harper government signing the original deal in 2014.
In 2016, ratification talks broke down during a regional dispute in Belgium.
Around that time, former trade minister Chrystia Freeland walked out of the talks and gave a moving interview in which she held back tears. The interview drew attention across the continent and talks resumed within days.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will visit Canada this month. His visit was postponed after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.