Trade Agreements between Canada and the European Union

Trade agreements between Canada and the EU are hoped to carry over into other non- trade related side agreements. On Oct. 18 Canadian Prime Minister Stephan Harper signed an Agreement in Principle with European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso after being in negotiation for four years. It is expected to be official within the next 18 to 24 months after being approved by both sides affiliated provinces and countries. The deal is intended to improve exchanges of goods, services, investments and labor. A related and incomplete negotiation is the Strategic Partnership Agreement which negotiation for began in 2011 and deals with boarder trade and investment pacts. Canada is hesitating to affirm the agreement at the final text including the importance of human rights and non-proliferation efforts. The EU insist that all such arrangements include promotions of human rights and the fight against weapons proliferation and doesn’t want to make an exception for Canada. Marie- Anne Coninsx, new EU ambassador to Canada, says that the pacts are linked and one will not be affirmed without the other. At the moment one both sides its thought that things are moving in the right direction although a few hurdles remain. In a government statement its predicted that the partnership will "enable us to act together to project our shared values to third countries on key issues such as international peace and security, non-proliferation, democracy and the rule of law." Although the EU’s concern is that if it allows Canada to pass on the human rights portions of the deals other smaller less democratic countries will want the same exemption