U.S. trade talks in deep freeze after Trump win, says EU File photograph of a worker adjusting European Union and U.S. flags at the start of the 2nd round of EU-US trade negotiations for Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels November 11, 2013. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
By Philip Blenkinsop | BRUSSELS
Donald Trump's election to the White House has consigned EU/U.S. trade talks to the deep freeze and they are unlikely to resume for some time, the European Union said on Friday.
A pause in negotiations towards the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was always expected with the end of Barack Obama's presidency, but Trump's win brings in a leader hostile to international trade pacts.
Trump has said he will withdraw from the unfinalized 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"For quite some time TTIP will probably be in the freezer and then what happens when it is defrosted, we will have to wait and see," EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told a news conference after a meeting of EU ministers responsible for trade.
"I think we should be realistic. I don't see the resumption of any TTIP negotiation for quite a long time."
EU officials have said it is not clear what Trump's stance is on TTIP, but that NAFTA and TPP would likely take priority.
The EU has faced a wave of criticism from protest groups over TTIP, who say it and other such pacts are done only for big business.
One high-level critic, French trade minister Matthias Fekl, said Britain's vote to leave the EU and Trump's election victory were signs of crisis in countries traditionally attached to free trade.
"We need to rethink the way the global economy functions or does not function... Nothing would be worse now than to think we can simply go on with business as usual," he said.
'GETTING TOUGH' WITH CHINA
Mirroring talk from Trump of 'getting tough' with China, EU ministers also sought on Friday to bolster the bloc's trade defences to floods of cheap imports.
They are weighing measures designed to shorten investigations into alleged dumping and to permit higher duties than normal in cases of foreign state interference Also In Business News
Wall Street rally sputters in Dow's best week since 2011 Limited repeal of Dodd-Frank seen under Trump: WSJ
Proposals were made in 2013, but the 28 EU members have failed to agree, with a group of countries including Britain opposed. That blocking minority appears to be getting smaller.
"I think ...we have moved a step closer to a possible agreement by the end of the year," said Peter Ziga, economy minister of Slovakia, which holds the six-month rotating EU presidency.
The EU has had a tough time with trade policy in recent years, also struggling to pass a deal with Canada.
On Friday, it scored a minor success, adding Ecuador to an existing pact with Colombia and Peru.
(Additional reporting by Stever Scherer in Rome; editing by John Stonestreet)
Last Edit: Nov 11, 2016 15:09:36 GMT -5 by lavender1
EU-Canada trade deal in meltdown as Canadian minister walks out
Chrystia Freeland announced ‘failure’ of Ceta as Wallonia blocks Belgium government from signing free trade deal
Chrystia Freeland frustrated with failure of EU-Canada trade deal
Jennifer Rankin in Brussels
Friday 21 October 2016 17.25 BST Last modified on Friday 21 October 2016 19.44 BST
A landmark trade deal between the European Union and Canada is in meltdown, after Canada’s trade minister walked out of talks with the Belgian regional parliament that has been blocking the deal.
The Canadian trade minister, Chrystia Freeland, was on the verge of tears on Friday as she announced the “end and the failure” of talks with the Walloon government.
Leaving the Élysette, the home of the Walloon government in Namur, Freeland said: “It seems obvious that the EU is now not capable of having an international agreement, even with a country that shares European values such as Canada, even with a country that is so kind and patient.
“Canada is disappointed. I am personally very disappointed. I have worked very very hard. We have decided to go home. I am truly very, very sad.” A placard reads ‘Stop Ceta’ outside the Walloon parliament in Namur, Belgium. The banner appears to have had its wish granted.
A placard reads ‘Stop Ceta’ outside the Walloon parliament in Namur, Belgium. The banner appears to have had its wish granted. Photograph: Bruno Fahy/AFP/Getty Images
The comprehensive economic and trade agreement (Ceta), which would eliminate tariffs on most goods between the EU and Canada, has been seven years in the making. But it has stumbled near the finish line, as the Belgian region of Wallonia, with a population of 3.5 million, blocked Belgium’s government from signing the deal. The EU, a single market of 510 million people, requires unanimity on trade deals.
Cecilia Malmström, the EU trade commissioner, insisted it was not the end of the road for Ceta. “Good progress has been made in most areas of concerns for Wallonia in talks on Ceta. I sincerely believe this is not the end of the process,” she wrote on Twitter. The commission had “engaged wholeheartedly” with Wallonia over the last days and it was “truly sad talks have been halted”, she said.
The collapse of talks in Namur will be a heavy blow to EU leaders, who have warned that Europe’s credibility is on the line. Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was due to fly to Brussels on 27 October to sign the agreement.
Some see the disintegrating Ceta deal as a bad omen for the UK, which wants to negotiate a post-Brexit free trade agreement with the EU.
“If we can’t make it with Canada, I don’t think we can make it with the UK,” the EU trade commissioner, Cecilia Malmström, quipped this week. Canada's trade deal with EU a model for Brexit? Not quite, insiders say Read more
British officials have played down similarities, arguing that putting up trade barriers will be a very different exercise to taking them down.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, also dismissed talk of a parallel. “The issues that we have been discussing now in relation to Ceta is not something that brought to mind the discussions with Great Britain,” she told reporters after an EU summit in Brussels.
As recently as Thursday, EU officials hoped to get Wallonia on board, but the outlook had darkened by Friday morning, when the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, denounced the “radicalisation of positions” from Walloon negotiators.
Belgium, a founding member of the EU that prides itself on its ability to find compromises, is likely to experience heightened tensions between its Flemish and Francophone regions.
The scramble to rescue Ceta overshadowed a Brussels summit, where EU leaders failed to agree on reforming Europe’s trade defences against a glut of cheap Chinese steel.
topping CETA Wallonia is adamantly blocking the EU’s trade deal with Canada A tiny region of Belgium opposes trade for reasons that are hard to understand Oct 22nd 2016 | From the print edition
Bravely resisting the Canadian menace
“HEY Canada, fuck you.” Within hours this tweet (the result of a hack) from the Belgian foreign minister’s account was replaced with a friendlier message: “keep calm and love Canada”. Yet his country’s actions are closer to the original. On October 14th the regional parliament of Wallonia voted to block the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a trade deal between the European Union and Canada.
Twentieth-century trade deals slashed tariffs. Newer ones between rich countries, such as CETA, focus on cutting other barriers to trade. After seven years of haggling, European negotiators dream of European toys and electrical products being sold straight to Canadians, without having to go through a second round of health and safety checks.
Coordinating standards with another country inevitably means surrendering a little sovereignty. This riles many Europeans, who worry that CETA will dilute environmental standards and labour laws; they suspect that new courts established by the treaty to settle investor disputes with governments will favour corporations over regulators.
But plans for such courts have already been reformed, notes Marietje Schaake, a liberal Dutch MEP. The latest proposals make them more independent and transparent. On October 18th Cecilia Malmstrom, the EU’s trade commissioner, wearily offered to add a “plain language” declaration to clarify the deal.
CETA has other more traditional detractors who hate the fact that it also hacks away at 99% of customs duties between Canada and the EU. Wallonia boasts one cow for every three humans and its lavishly subsidised farmers are wary of cheap Canadian competition. Erwin Schöpges, a Walloon dairy farmer who joined the protests outside parliament, says he already faces milk prices below his production costs. “We want to trade with Canada, but we would rather not abolish tariffs,” he says.
In any trade deal there are winners and losers: the former, more numerous; the latter, more passionate. The Belgian government may buy off its farmers, but even so more hurdles await. CETA must be ratified by 38 regional and national EU parliaments before it can be implemented fully. Mr Schöpges says the protest in Wallonia was less lively than the one he attended in Hamburg a few weeks earlier; opposition in Germany and France could just as easily derail proceedings.
CETA would make Europe €5.8 billion a year richer, by one estimate. But the real danger of letting Wallonia derail it is the precedent it would set. With so many potential vetoes, says Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, it is hard to imagine the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (a much bigger deal between America and the EU) being passed. And as for Britain’s prospects after Brexit, Ms Malmstrom says: “if we can’t make (a deal) with Canada, I’m not sure we can make (one) with the UK.”
This article appeared in the Print Edition with the headline: Hot-air Walloons
