TRADE DEALS IN JEOPARDY — CETA and TTIP

by Crista Huff

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada was stonewalled in mid-October by the Belgian region of Wallonia, whose parliament voted against signing the trade deal, obligating Belgium’s federal government to also oppose CETA.

Wallonia’s strongest opposition to the trade deal centers on CETA’s private arbitration mechanism, the Investment Court System (ICS). The ICS is essentially a “new and improved” version of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism, currently featured in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.

Without Belgium’s participation, the October 27 European Council meeting in Brussels, at which the wording of CETA was to be finalized, was in jeopardy. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled to the meeting, despite the deal’s cloudy future, and was rewarded with the surprise of a “YES” vote from Belgium.

CETA will need to be approved via the partner countries’ ratification votes before it’s a done deal.

World leaders should not necessarily expect Belgium to roll over on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) vote, though. “Paul Magnette, the premier of Belgium’s Wallonia region, called TTIP ‘dead and buried’ after CETA critics were awarded key concessions to win their concurrence last week,” reported Inside U.S. Trade (10-31-16, subscription only). TTIP negotiations between the U.S. and the EU are expected to resume after the U.S. November elections.

The Belgium Government plans to ask the European Court of Justice to examine whether the ICS dispute mechanism within CETA and TTIP is consistent with EU law. Five Belgian regions remain opposed to ratification of CETA with its current ICS provision.

It should also be noted that the Council of Canadians, Canada’s leading social action organization, is also opposed to CETA, and will likely continue to pressure the Canadian government to oppose CETA ratification.

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Crista Huff is a stock market expert and a conservative political activist. She works with End Global Governance and issues groups to defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Send questions and comments to research@goodfellowllc.com.