Retail trade representative group EuroCommerce has welcomed the EU Parliament's ratification of the EU-Canada free-trade agreement, approved 15 February.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (or CETA) can now be 'provisionally applied' this spring.
Director-general of EuroCommerce, Christian Verschueren, said the vote was, "an important contribution to the creation of badly-needed growth and jobs in Europe. Especially at a time of political uncertainty we need an approach that ensures a sound international trading environment. CETA is a good deal both for European companies and European consumers.”
The group highlighted the need for trade deals between global leaders such as Japan, India and the US, which it called 'sadly overdue'.
President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership shortly after being elected in January, throwing the future of such trade deals in doubt.
Verschueren added, “Without free trade, everyone in the world ends up poorer, and trade barriers simply mean stopping people having the choice of buying the best the world can offer at a price they can afford.”
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
