EU, Canada sign free trade deal but battle not over

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed the treaty along with the heads of EU institutions, a step that should enable a provisional implementation of the pact early in 2017 with the removal of most import duties.

EU, Canada sign free trade deal but battle not over. (Photo: Reuters)

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement's (CETA) passage has not been smooth.

French-speakers in southern Belgium, a minority within their own small country and accounting for less than 1% of the 508 million EU consumers likely to be affected by CETA, raised objections that held up the deal until a breakthrough, confirmed by regional parliamentary votes recently.

"We are setting standards which will determine globalization in the coming years," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a news conference alongside Trudeau. "Nothing in other trade agreements will be able to remain below the level of what we have reached today with Canada."

The Canada agreement is seen as a springboard to a larger EU deal with the United States, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Treaty (TTIP), which has been the target of labor unions and environmental and other protest groups.