EU, Canada secure clearance to kick-start free trade deal

[nitpicker]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-eu-canada-trade-idUKKBN15U1BV?il=0

EU, Canada secure clearance to kick-start free trade deal

By Philip Blenkinsop | STRASBOURG
Wed Feb 15, 2017 | 11:32am GMT

The European Union and Canada secured clearance on Wednesday for their contentious free trade deal and the removal of import duties that supporters say will boost growth and jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. The two parties can claim a success for their open markets policy after months of protest and uncertainty and in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and wants to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement.

European Parliament lawmakers backed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) by 408-254, meaning large parts of the EU-Canada deal, notably tariff reduction, will finally enter into force some 8 years after negotiations began.
(snip)

Full implementation of CETA, including investment, will only ensue after clearance by more than three dozen national and regional parliaments, by no means a certainty. Opposition in the Belgian region of Wallonia threatened to kill the deal last year.
(snip)

Backers say CETA will increase Canadian-EU trade by 20 percent and boost the EU economy by 12 billion euros (10 billion pounds) a year and Canada's by C$12 billion ($9.18 billion). For Canada the deal is important to reduce its reliance on the neighbouring United States as an export market. For the EU, it is a first trade pact with a G7 country and a success at a time when the bloc's credibility has taken a beating from Britain's vote last June to leave the bloc.
(snip)