BRUSSELS/OTTAWA (Reuters) — Canada and the European Union are struggling to finalize a multibillion-dollar trade pact six months after political leaders said it was sealed.
Over a celebratory lunch last October, Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso termed the accord “a landmark achievement for the transatlantic market” that could come into force next year.
But the trade deal, which could increase bilateral trade by a fifth to $35 billion a year, has run into trouble over issues ranging from financial services to how beef and cheese quotas are shared out.
Read Also
August rain welcome, but offered limited relief
Increased precipitation in August aids farmers prior to harvest in southern prairies of Canada.
The drawn-out final stage of talks, with each side accusing the other of going back on promises, illustrates the complexity of sealing sophisticated trade deals and bodes ill for the EU’s more ambitious talks with the United States.
“Negotiations cannot drag on forever,” said Marie-Anne Coninsx, the EU’s ambassador to Ottawa.
“It is in the interests of both parties that we get things done.”
The deal would make Canada the world’s only major economy with preferential access to the world’s two largest markets, the EU and the United States, home to a total of 800 million people.
For Europe, the accord is meant to be a template for its trade negotiations with the United States.
Publicly, EU officials say it is a question of days for the final wording of the Canada trade deal to be agreed. Canadian trade minister Ed Fast told lawmakers last week that “all of the substantive issues have been resolved”.
However, behind closed doors in Brussels and Ottawa, trade delegations, diplomats and business groups complained of long delays and difficult issues that have yet to be resolved.
“With hindsight, it was premature for Harper and Barroso to announce a deal,” said one person close to the talks. “There is a sense of embarrassment in many quarters.”
Talks were launched in May 2009 but stalled last year over issues such as the size of quotas for Canadian beef and EU cheese. At their lunch in October, where chefs cheekily served Italian gorgonzola and Greek feta, Harper and Barroso said the big issues were resolved.
But both sides are still negotiating the divisive issue of how foreign companies bring claims against either Canada or a European Union country if a government breaches a trade treaty.
