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On 30 October the Canadian prime minister and representatives of the EU signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement CETA in Brussels following seven years of tense talks.
Canada sends 75 percent of all its exports to the United States and CETA is seen as a means to reduce Canada's dependence on the US. The nation is struggling to revive a sluggish export sector.
With CETA, Canada has entered into the biggest bilateral trade agreement since NAFTA, reducing its dependency on the U.S. and significantly strengthening its commercial alliance with its second-biggest trading partner, the EU (Canada and the EU traded $69 billion in products last year). However, both nations admitted the full agreement is years away.
The controversial deal which was earlier on the verge of collapse is once again in troubled waters as activists in Holland try to force through a referendum. Dutch campaigners have gathered almost two thirds of the signatures needed to lay the groundwork for a referendum have the potential to sink the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
Activists have criticized CETA for lacking transparency and giving undue influence to closed arbitration tribunals they say could be abused by multinationals to dictate public policy. The Dutch have twice in previous occasions voted down EU initiatives in referendums.
EU deals with foreign countries need the unanimous support of its 28 member states and defeat of CETA in the Netherlands could throw the EU into chaos as doubts grow over the ability of the bloc to negotiate trade deals on behalf of member states.
