‘It is a very good agreement,’ Emmanuel Macron told reporters in French, during a joint press conference with Justin Trudeau
As Canada’s free-trade deal with Europe runs up against political opposition in France, French President Emmanuel Macron defended it Thursday at an appearance in Montreal.
“It is a very good agreement,” Macron told reporters in French, during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “I am confident there will be a path forward for its definitive adoption in France.”
Negotiations for the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) finished in 2014 and was signed in 2017, but the deal is only provisional, pending the ratification of all 27 EU member states.
Macron made note of this incongruity in his remarks on Thursday.
“The reality is that CETA is a good agreement for the French agricultural sector,” Macron told reporters.
Some European critics of the agreement have stoked fears about the quality of Canadian meat exports entering the French market under CETA.
Dan LeRoy, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Lethbridge said that the French debate over Canadian beef is “pure theatre.”
“Canada and France are not in the top dozen of each other’s (beef and veal) export markets,” LeRoy said.
National Post
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