EU fact of the week
date: 18/10/2019
EU-Canada CETA deal boosted bilateral trade in goods by 10.3% in 2018
In the first full calendar year (2018) of the EU-Canada (CETA) trade agreement, bilateral trade in goods grew by 10.3% and the EU's trade surplus with Canada increased by 60%, according to the European Commission's annual report on the implementation of trade agreements. EU goods exports to Canada rose by 15% (or €36 billion in extra export revenue), especially those sectors where import duties were previously high, such as pharmaceuticals (up 29%), machinery (up 16%) and organic chemicals (up 77 %). EU agri-food exports to Canada (accounting for 9% of total EU exports) rose by 7%. The European Union's network of trade agreements - the largest in the world - covered 31% of Europe's trade exchanges in 2018. The EU exports to and imports from trade agreement partners showed positive developments, continued growth of 2% and 4.6% respectively, with a strong performance of EU agri-food exports.