Stephane Dion, Canada’s foreign minister, is urging EU members to approve Europe’s trade agreement with Canada to demonstrate that the bloc’s focus on its post-Brexit ties to the UK has not left it “stalled”.
Justin Trudeau’s government is leveraging its diplomatic resources to save its agreement with Europe, which governs trade in goods and services worth more than €90bn annually. The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement has declined in priority as European trade officials focus on the UK’s future and the commission has climbed down from EU-level approval of the deal. Instead, each member state will separately ratify it, if necessary by a vote in national parliaments.
In an interview, Mr Dion argued that ratifying CETA would allow the EU “to show that they are able to go forward, that they are not stalled, they are not in regression”.
“We will mobilise all of our resources to make sure that it will work,” said Mr Dion, whose government is engaging European governments and opposition parties for support. “If they cannot ratify with Canada, with whom will they be able to do so?”
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