The trade partners of the future are here!

Feb 15, 2017

SME Connect is delighted to congratulate the EU and Canadian administrations on approving the EU-Canada trade agreement (CETA). This trade agreement is the most up to date and inclusive agreement ever brokered between European Union and a trade partner. CETA will ensure market access whilst creating an equal basis and opportunities for businesses of all sizes, whilst acting as a guardian of property rights globally, not to mention that it will be saving those who export from Europe over €500 million a year! CETA is not only a beneficial trade agreement for European consumers and producers, but it is also a path in which Europe can become a “standard maker” in the global stage. In a working breakfast that took place on the 7th of February in the European Parliament, hosted by MEP Iuliu Winkler, in cooperation with SME Europe of the EPP, MEP Viviane Reding said it best:

We have to be standard-makers! Not standard-takers.

CETA will also protect the wallets of both consumers and producers in Europe. Through CETA, European SMES and consumers will benefit from the elimination or cutting of custom duties. This will create a new flow of market opportunities for European SMEs, and could save roughly 42 million euros a year for agricultural goods and 470 million euros a year for industrial goods, for all exporters within the Union. It is important to note, that the decrease or elimination of custom duties does not equate to the elimination of European standards and regulations for Canadian goods. Quite the contrary.

For us at SME Connect, this is one of the greatest benefits CETA will bring to European SMEs, because not only will prices be highly beneficial for SMEs and consumers, but the European quality standard will be kept.

CETA could very well be the first stepping stone to bring European standards of quality to the rest of the world. CETA certainly sets the bar at a high level for the coming global trade agreements of the future.