CTV News | At the gates of Europe: Canada's top negotiator on EU free-trade
Pro- EU Free Trade by CTV news
Overcoming foreign trade restrictions remains a challenge for Canadian business. In Europe, a free-trade deal, currently being negotiated with Canada, could open up service sectors to Canadian companies, reduce barriers to investment and provide transparent rules and processes. All are changes that could prove helpful to small and medium sized businesses, says Steve Verheul, Canada’s chief negotiator for the pact.
“We would be the only developed country with this kind of access into the EU,” he says.
Mr. Verheul, 50, has been Canada’s chief negotiator since free-trade talks with Europe started in May, 2009. His goal, he says, is for the deal to be broader than the North American Free Trade Agreement and “deeper in ambition.”
Why such a broad and deep free trade deal with Europe?
It’s something we’ve been wanting for a long time. Someone said it goes back 30 years. We obviously rely quite heavily on the U.S. market and there’s been an interest in diversifying into other markets. The European market is the largest, wealthiest single market in the world. Plus, we have a lot of cultural and historical ties with Europe. It made it a natural ally for a free-trade agreement.
Where are the negotiations at?
We’ve been through five rounds of negotiations; we’ve got two more planned for early next year. We’re anticipating concluding the negotiations later in the year. We’ve
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