Germany to Kill Canada-EU Trade Agreement, May Axe US-EU Deal Too

Germany is to scupper a free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada because the clauses giving legal protection to investors would give them too much power, according to a report in a leading Germany newspaper.

The Canada deal is considered a template for the United States-EU free trade agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which is still under negotiation. If Germany rejects the Canada agreement, then the American deal looks likely to fail, too.

A senior European Commission official in Brussels told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung: “The free trade treaty with Canada is a test for the agreement with the United States.” If the one with Canada is rejected, “then the one with the United States is also dead.”

German diplomats in Brussels confirmed to the newspaper that the Berlin government would not sign the agreement “as it has been negotiated now.” The chapter on legal protection for investors is “problematic.”

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