The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) welcomes the beginning of provisional application of the historic Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union (EU) and looks forward to timely resolution of remaining barriers.
Today, CAFTA representatives attended a celebration of the agreement held by the Honourable FrançoisPhilippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade.
“While we urge the government to resolve the outstanding issues, we are also encouraged that Canada is forging ahead with its commitment to freer trade with the world’s second largest economy,” said Brian Innes, CAFTA president. “Eventually, CETA will mean preferential access for Canadian agri-food to an $18 trillion market that includes 500 million people.”
The potential for Canada making greater trade inroads in EU markets is huge. Canada exported $3.5 billion in agriculture and food products to the EU in 2016 – making it the country’s fourth largest export destination. When the CETA is fully implemented, it will eliminate EU tariffs on almost 94 per cent of Canada’s agri-food products.
While the results won’t be immediate for some agri-food sectors, the agreement presents the potential to drive additional exports of up to $1.5 billion per year. This includes $600 million in beef, $400 million in pork, $100 million in grains and oilseeds, $100 million in sugar containing products and a further $300 million in processed foods, fruits and vegetables.
“At a time when some countries are looking inward, it’s critical that Canada continues to pursue free trade agreements like CETA,” Innes said. “Our growing export-oriented agri-food sector relies on access to markets. We encourage our government officials to keep up the hard work required to resolve remaining issues.”
Innes cited the slow progress the EU is making to allow real, commercially viable access to the EU for agrifood exporters. This includes progress on meat processing protocols, crop protection products, country of origin labelling and the timely approval of biotechnology traits. CAFTA members are also very concerned with recent protectionist measures from Member States under the guise of country of origin labelling provisions.
These measures are not in the spirit of CETA and threaten to fragment the common EU market.
Source : CAFTA