EU leaders scramble to salvage free trade pact with Canada
BRUSSELS- The European Union was scrambling Friday to salvage a massive free trade deal with Canada that was being held up by a small region in Belgium.
EU leaders warned that failure to clinch the deal could ruin the 28-nation bloc's credibility as a trade partner and make it more difficult to strike such agreements with other global allies.
A similar free trade agreement between the EU and the United States is also being negotiated, but has met with far more opposition than the Canada pact, which has fallen foul of a Belgian region of 3.5 million people. Progress on the US deal is highly unlikely any time before next month's American election.
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he had invited Canada's International Trade Minister, Chrystia Freeland, to join talks Friday with the EU and Belgium to persuade Paul Magnette, president of the French-speaking Belgian region of Wallonia, to sign off on a deal his legislature has repeatedly rejected.
