Free-Trade Deal with EU Could Cost Thousands of Canadian Factory Jobs: CAW

(The Globe and Mail – Greg Keenan)

A free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union would deal another blow to Canada’s already battered manufacturing sector, wiping out thousands of jobs in food processing, apparel making and the auto industry, according to an analysis of a potential agreement that will be released Wednesday.

Canada, which has run an annual trade deficit of $19-billion with the EU, on average, for the past 10 years, would lose 28,000 jobs – most of them in manufacturing – if tariffs were eliminated, says a study done by Canadian Auto Workers economist Jim Stanford for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

Instead of increasing imports of European goods and services, Canada should look to that continent to provide examples of “what is really required to build successful, innovative export industries, instead of continuing to naively hope that more free-trade agreements will solve all that ails our trade performance,” Mr. Stanford said. Read more here.