Further alignment than currently planned would create new issues around steel, cars, genetically modified crops and other substantive issues, diplomats said.
The EU commission says one thing while the reality of getting it past the vetoes of 27 member states is quite another. CETA is still only in provisional effect with 10 member states still to ratify.
And there remains a huge issue that dare not speak it’s name: Canada is a member of NAFTA 2.0 (I.e. USMC Agreement). For all Trumps nonsense, it is still technically in effect, and the fewer barriers between the EU and Canada, in effect the fewer barriers between the US (and Mexico) with Canada. That complicates any relationship and treaties with Canada.
At this stage, the “associate membership” is nothing more than a PR exercise, possibly intended to put pressure on Trump or possibly opportunistic to bring Canada into Europe’s sphere of influence, and potentially going to piss off European governments if poorly handled.
The EU commission says one thing while the reality of getting it past the vetoes of 27 member states is quite another. CETA is still only in provisional effect with 10 member states still to ratify.
And there remains a huge issue that dare not speak it’s name: Canada is a member of NAFTA 2.0 (I.e. USMC Agreement). For all Trumps nonsense, it is still technically in effect, and the fewer barriers between the EU and Canada, in effect the fewer barriers between the US (and Mexico) with Canada. That complicates any relationship and treaties with Canada.
At this stage, the “associate membership” is nothing more than a PR exercise, possibly intended to put pressure on Trump or possibly opportunistic to bring Canada into Europe’s sphere of influence, and potentially going to piss off European governments if poorly handled.