International Trade Minister Ed Fast explains that more details of Canada’s deal with the EU will come after technical and legal details are finalized, and looks ahead to finishing trade negotiations with India. NDP leader Tom Mulcair, meanwhile, welcomes trade with the EU, but warns there are still many questions about the deal that have yet to be answered.
The ball is in India’s court, if that government wants to complete a trade deal with Canada before the end of the year, International Trade Minister Ed Fast said Sunday.
“We’re working very hard to try to get it done this year, but really that’s up to the Indians, whether they want to engage at that high level of intensity,” he said in an interview on the West block with Tom Clark.
“We certainly have been prepared to close off before the end of the year.”
In his 2011 speech from the throne, Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged to ink a trade deal with India in 2013.
Last week’s throne speech also mentioned the deal with India as part of the government’s commitment to expanding trade, but didn’t include a deadline.
“We’re continuing to progress,” Fast said of negotiations with India. “It is slower that we had hoped for, but we are absolutely committed to concluding an agreement with India.”
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