A prominent Canadian business advocates is warning that a European Union failure to ratify a trade deal with Canada would be an EU setback.
John Manley, a former Liberal finance minister, industry minister and deputy prime minister who now is president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, was in Ireland Sept. 27 to complain that “time is running out” on long-running Canada-EU talks.
In a Dublin speech to Ireland-Canada business groups, he pointed a finger at EU member countries for their reluctance to approve compromises needed for a deal.
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“We have urged both sides to make the necessary compromises to conclude an agreement but it takes two to tango and right now what we are hearing from the EU side is that the negotiators are not feeling much pressure from European governments to reach a deal,” said Manley.
“If that’s the case, they are making a huge mistake. The EU needs this deal. It’s one thing to start negotiations, but it’s another thing to finish them and the EU has yet to sign a free trade agreement with a large advanced economy.”
As the EU is now starting trade negotiations with the United States, trade experts say Canada has a narrow window to get a deal before EU attention turns to the U.S. potential.
There have been Canadian government leaks suggesting a deal could be announced this year although it would need approval from Parliament and the provinces before it could be ratified.
That could take a year or more.
Economists have calculated a trade increase worth billions of dollars if a deal can be struck.
Canada’s demands for more access for beef into Europe and EU demands for more dairy and cheese products into Canada have been identified as holdups in the talks.
Without mentioning specific issues, Manley said smaller sectors should not thwart trade dreams in the broader picture.
“We cannot allow the small number of remaining gaps — whose economic value is arguably marginal in the context of this trade agreement — to distract us from the huge gains on the table for both sides,” said the former Liberal minister and big business representative.
He warned his Irish audience that failure to agree to a deal with Canada would send a signal to the world that the EU is a trade deal no-go zone. “Like it or not, it will be interpreted as: ‘The EU is such an unwieldy structure, don’t even waste your time.’”
