Transatlantic Free Trade

(Globe & Mail)

Baby seals, beef hormones and other contentious topics may yet stand in the way of a trade treaty between the European Union and Canada, but the decision on Monday of the EU’s foreign ministers to authorize the formal beginning of negotiations for such an agreement, next week in Prague, is an encouraging step at a time of recession-influenced protectionist pressures around the world.

It is always good for Canada to diversify its trade relationships, though long-standing friendship and close proximity give permanent primacy to trade between Canada and the United States. When the U.S. is the epicentre of a global recession, however, Canadian businesses and governments must work hard to compensate for the current decline in American demand for our exports.

There is also a wider context. The Doha Round of international trade negotiations is languishing, at best. For the time being, progress in freer trade will have to come from bilateral treaties - though Canada's relationship with an often unwieldy 27-member economic community verges on being multilateral. Read more here.