Canada and Europen Union signed a historic trade agreement over the weekend.
Officials with the Prime Minister’s office said Canada is committed to deepening trade and investment links with new and traditional partners. Negotiating trade agreements, such as the Canada-European Union (EU) Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), will benefit Canadians, create new job opportunities, and help to grow the middle class and those working hard to join it.
In keeping with these objectives, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, together with Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, signed CETA during the European Union-Canada Leaders’ Summit.
“The signing of CETA is a historic occasion,” Trudeau stated.
“This modern and progressive agreement will reinforce the strong links between Canada and the EU, and create vast new opportunities for Canadians and Europeans alike—opening new markets for our exporters, offering more choices and better prices to consumers, and forging stronger ties between our economies.”
CETA is a modern, progressive trade agreement that, when implemented, will generate billions of dollars in bilateral trade and investment, provide greater choice and lower prices to consumers, and create middle class jobs in many sectors on both sides of the Atlantic, officials at the Prime Minister’s office said.
Both Canada and the EU are committed to bringing CETA into force as soon as possible.
The leaders also signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), which will enhance cooperation in important areas such as energy, environment and climate change, migration and peaceful pluralism, counter-terrorism and international peace and security, and effective multilateralism.
“The Canada-EU partnership is based on shared values, a long history of close cooperation, and strong people-to-people ties,” Trudeau stated. “The signing of CETA and the SPA sets the stage for even deeper relations in the future which will bolster the middle class on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Trudeau added: “CETA will offer significant benefits for most sectors of the Canadian economy, from fishermen in Newfoundland and Labrador, to aerospace workers in Quebec, and from people assembling automobiles in Ontario, to forest industry workers in British Columbia to miners in the Northwest Territories.”
CETA is the product of hard work, frank negotiations, and a common commitment – by the Prime Minister, the Minister of International Trade, and countless Canadian public servants – to a strong Canada-EU partnership.
– Photo credit: pm.gc.ca
