EU trade deal has Canada’s food exporters salivating

AFP

Canadian food exporters at a major trade fair in Paris fear a last minute dispute will spoil a free trade deal between Canada and the European Union.
Having taken years to negotiate, some producers voiced impatience for the deal to now be finally sealed; others simply fail to see why anyone would reject it. Barring a few sensitive agricultural products, the free trade deal, known as CETA, would abolish virtually all tariffs between Canada and the currently 28-strong EU.
Supporters say it will boost trade in goods and services between the two trading partners by more than 20 percent and total EU GDP by about 12 billion euros ($13.4 billion) per year.
“I’ve been waiting for it for three years!” enthused Kevin Pelletier, whose company Ferme Vifranc, based in Saint-Pamphile in Quebec, produces sweets made from local favourite maple syrup.
The removal of import duties on some top end products should help drive the company’s sales in Europe 2 to 5 percent higher, he said, adding Europe accounted for about half of its business. Organic chocolate maker Sacha Laflamme, who has been trying to get a foothold in the French market, is also sweet on the idea of easing market access in the EU.
“I have a lot of expectations and hopes. If this deal can open doors for us, facilitate contracts,” he said.
A sour note, however, is Britain’s decision to quit the EU, meaning a “major player in the European community” will be missing from the final deal, he added. At Floating Leaf, an exporter of wild rice and lentils to Europe, the absence of Britain, an important customer, from CETA is also a source of regret. “I hoped Britain would be part of this agreement,” sales chief Matthew Ratuski said.

‘Challenges, opportunities’
But not everyone is a fan. CETA, or the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, faces opposition both in Canada and in some EU states.
“Some (Canadian) farmers are worried,” said Sue Bennett, from the University of Guelph, in the eastern-central province of Ontario who is helping to guide manufacturers at the Sial food fair in Villepinte, near Paris.
They’re uneasy about European products being able to more easily enter a market whose population, at 35 million, is less than 10 percent of the EU’s total, she said. Like all big deals, CETA presents “challenges and opportunities”, Bennett added. Ihab Leheta, sales chief at Daiya, a specialist in non-milk substitutes for cheese, said that just getting the deal signed after seven years of negotiations was its next hurdle.
Opposition from Belgium’s French-speaking Wallonia region to the deal may capsize plans for it to be signed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau next week in Brussels.
If Wallonia doesn’t come onboard, the Belgian government won’t be able to endorse the free trade deal, as the other 27 EU nations have done.
In fact, it is opposed by a wide array of groups, who say it is a test model to push through the even more controversial EU-US trade deal, still in negotiation. “Will it be next week, the week after, the year after?” Jerry Bigam said, half joking. He is president of Kinnikinnick Foods, whose range notably includes gluten-free biscuits.
For two years, he has been gearing up to establish his business in Europe and said he would be “very disappointed” if the deal was not signed.
“It’s easier for European companies to come to Canada than for Canadian companies to come to Europe,” he said, complaining of European restrictions such as a ban on genetically modified organisms. “It’s hard for me to believe that a European country could be reluctant to sign this treaty,” he added.