Insights and Stories on CETA

Oct. 25, 2016 at 4:40 pm CDT

Brussels | Reuters — A court ruling early next year may help the European Union out of the kind of embarrassing situation it has just landed in, where a regional assembly in Belgium is blocking a major trade agreement between Canada and the 28 sovereign states of the EU. Belgian […]

By philip-blenkinsop

Oct. 24, 2016 at 1:31 pm CDT

Brussels | Reuters — The European Union’s hopes of signing a landmark free trade deal with Canada this week appeared to evaporate on Monday as the Belgian federal government failed to win the consent of French-speaking regional authorities. European Council President Donald Tusk had given Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel […]

By philip-blenkinsop, Robert-Jan Bartunek

Oct. 22, 2016 at 4:01 pm CDT

Brussels | Reuters — Canada said on Saturday it was up to the European Union to save a free trade deal that could boost both economies but that cannot be signed as planned next week due to opposition from Belgium’s French-speaking region. The Walloon government was awaiting new proposals from […]

By Alissa de Carbonnel, philip-blenkinsop

Oct. 21, 2016 at 12:32 pm CDT

Brussels | Reuters — Canada’s trade minister walked out of talks in Belgium on Friday, declaring that the European Union was incapable of sealing a planned transatlantic free trade deal designed to boost growth in both economies. All 28 EU governments support the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), but […]

By philip-blenkinsop

Oct. 20, 2016 at 7:25 pm CDT

Brussels | Reuters — The Belgian region of Wallonia rejected new amendments to a planned EU-Canada free trade agreement on Thursday, reaffirming its opposition and so threatening the entire deal, a flagship of European Union trade policy. All 28 EU governments support the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), but […]

By Alastair Macdonald, philip-blenkinsop