WINNIPEG, Manitoba – Cereals Canada welcomes the signing of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU).
“This is the most significant trade agreement since NAFTA”, noted Cam Dahl, President of Cereals Canada. “CETA is the most comprehensive agreement that Canada has ever signed. This is good news for agriculture, which has been left off of the negotiating table in the past”.
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“Ninety per cent of Canadian farmers depend upon world markets when pricing and selling their products. This includes cereal crop producers from coast to coast. Reduction in trade barriers to one of the world’s largest market is good news.”
The signing of the agreement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President of the European Council Donald Tusk means that CETA is now final. Signing also opens the door to formal ratification by the Parliament of Canada and the members of the EU.
“Tariffs are not the only part of the access equation,” continued Dahl. “The realization of the full potential of CETA depends science-based sanitary and phyto-sanitary regulations on both sides of the Atlantic. This includes the review and approval of crop input products and new varieties. Commitments to science-based rules of trade will be as important as tariff reductions.”
“The completion of this agreement has taken over seven years. Cereals Canada offers congratulations and appreciation to Canada’s negotiating team, in particular Steve Verheul, Canada’s Chief Negotiator. We also offer our congratulations to Ministers Freeland and MacAulay who have brought the agreement to completion and former Ministers Fast and Ritz whose past efforts, which began March of 2009, have made this signing possible,” concluded Dahl.
