EU, Canada to Hail Draft Trade Pact That May Take Effect in 2016
The European Union and Canada are poised to celebrate the end of five years of negotiations on a free-trade accord when both sides hold a summit later this week.
The draft agreement, the EUs most ambitious commercial pact to date, will then go through about nine months of legal checks before being put to the blocs 28 national governments and the European Parliament for final approval. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will host the EU-Canada meeting on Sept. 26 in Ottawa.
The deal, projected to take effect in 2016, would end 98 percent of tariffs on EU-Canada goods trade from the outset and 99 percent after seven years. Each side would dismantle all industrial tariffs and more than 90 percent of agricultural duties. Markets for services and public procurement would also be opened under the pact, the EUs first with a fellow member of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations.
This is a new generation agreement that will create more opportunities for our businesses, who will receive the same treatment on both sides of the Atlantic, and generate more job opportunities, Jose Barroso, president of the European Commission, the EUs executive arm, said in a statement today in Brussels. This is no small achievement between two G-7 members.
The EU is seeking to build on the draft trade agreement with Canada to push for a bigger market-opening pact with the U.S., a step that would expand what is already the worlds largest economic relationship. By contrast, Canada is the EUs 12th most-important trade partner.
EU-Canada trade in merchandise was worth 58.9 billion euros ($75.4 billion) in 2013, while services commerce totaled 26.2 billion euros, according to the commission. The market-opening accord may boost bilateral trade in goods and services by 23 percent, according to the EU.
In the area of industrial tariffs, more than 99 percent will be scrapped by the EU and Canada from the pacts entry into force, says the commission. Each side will phase out some automotive levies over seven years, while Canada will do the same for a few ship-related duties over the same period, according to the commission.
On agricultural goods, the EU will remove 94 percent of tariffs and Canada 92 percent over seven years, according to the commission. It says tariffs will remain for a handful of sensitive farm goods, including beef, pork and sweetcorn on the EU side and dairy goods, poultry meat and eggs on the Canadian.
Sticking points as the negotiations neared a conclusion included Canadian access to the EUs beef and pork markets and European access to Canadas dairy market.
Under the accord, the EU will allow annual duty-free imports of about 46,000 metric tons of beef -- estimated at 0.6 percent of total EU beef consumption -- and 75,000 tons of pork from Canada, while Canada will permit the duty-free import of 17,700 tons of cheese a year from the bloc, according to the commission. These will be phased in over five years, with amounts exceeding the quotas subject to tariffs.
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EU, Canada to Hail Draft Trade Pact That May Take Effect in 2016