In an age where coupling the words “economic” and “crisis” comes as naturally as the union of rhythm and blues or bacon and eggs, ticking off the projected benefits of the Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) evokes the stuff of dreams.
The aim is for completely open, bilateral competition for public and government contracts, harmonization of regulations to make trade transparent, and free movement of qualified, professional employees. The hoped-for result is that within three years there will be a 20 per cent increase in bilateral trade and a $12-billion boost in Canadian Gross Domestic Product.
Too good to pass up? Or too good to be true? Mooted for some years now, the first round of talks aimed at hammering out the agreement took place in Ottawa last year. Public releases were couched in vague platitudes with not a bracing of hard facts. Why?
The reasons break down neatly into three categories. The first is, grandly speaking, the “state of the world.” History shows us that in periods of malaise in economics and politics (funny how the two seem to go together, isn’t it?) the world’s nations tend to, regardless of the consequences, retract into their respective carapaces. When this happens, nationalism and protectionism take the place of international cooperation and free trade.
The second category is more geographically restricted but, ominously, potentially more thorny. The EU has already negotiated a trade agreement with Mexico. Mexico and Canada are both signatories, with the United States, of the equally comprehensive North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA). It goes without saying, then, that any EU–Canada accord would be subject to compatibility with the terms of NAFTA.
Finally the third, but certainly not the least, reason for a delay in the negotiation effort is the details that serve as the devil’s principal residence. Issues here range from the seemingly trivial (European restrictions on the import of products made from Canadian seals, and Ottawa’s requirement that Czech citizens obtain visas before travel to Canada), to far more substantive issues of agricultural policy (domestic subsidies to Canadian dairy farmers and European beef producers).