Big Stakes in Canada-Europe Trade Talks, but Little Attention

(The Canadian Press – Julian Beltrame)

It may well be the biggest and most important trade negotiation that most Canadians have never heard of.

While most of the news out of Europe of late has had to do with the Greek debt crisis and an ash-spewing volcano in Iceland, about 60 Canadian officials have been huddled in contentious trade talks with their European counterparts – at least video images of their counterparts – in what used to be Ottawa’s city hall by the Rideau.

There have been no demonstrators in front of the building denouncing a sell-off of Canadian sovereignty, and hardly a mention in the media or the House of Commons. But if you listen to the critics, what is at stake is in some ways more troubling than the Canada-U.S. free trade talks of the late 1980s – over which an election was fought – or the NAFTA deal that followed.

“What we want is the most ambitious trade agreement we’ve ever had,” federal Trade Minister Peter van Loan said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “We’re looking for something that is deeper and broader than even NAFTA, and this is with the world’s largest economy.”

The two sides are now in the third round of talks, with two more planned. If all goes well, Van Loan hopes to see ink on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement or CETA by late next year. Read more here.