BRUSSELS: The EU's top trade negotiator on Monday said a stalled free trade deal between Europe and Canada was more important than ever, given the rise of protectionism in the Donald Trump-led US.
"We have an important friend and ally who seems to be at least partly disengaging from the international scene promoting less trade, more protectionism," EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem told MEPs, referring to new US President Trump, who has made a priority of tearing up international trade deals.
Malmstroem made her remarks to members of the European Parliament's trade committee who will decide Tuesday on whether the highly ambitious EU-Canada trade deal goes to a full vote next month in Strasbourg.
"We need to stick together with like-minded partners to show that these trade deals are actually functioning, and what better partner can we have than Canada," said Malmstroem, who is a Swedish former minister and MEP.
The EU and Canada formally signed the landmark free trade deal seven years in the making in October, after overcoming last-minute resistance from a small Belgian region that nearly torpedoed the entire agreement.
Wallonia, with a population of 3.6 million, had held up the deal until it won concessions for its farmers and guarantees that international investors would not be able to force governments to change laws.
To take effect, the deal now needs the green light from the European Parliament, followed by ratification by the EU's 30-plus national and regional parliaments.
Trump, who took office on Friday, on Monday delivered on his protectionist campaign promises and effectively ended US participation in a sweeping trans-Pacific free trade agreement.
He is also widely expected to drop any attempt to seal a similar deal with the EU, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP.
"The world is looking at us right now," Malmstroem said in the wake of the news from Washington.
"Since the killing, or the postponement or the burying of TPP many countries are (looking) up too the European Union saying let us stick together now," she said.
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