Resumen de CETA deal could boost EU-Canada mineral trade

Industrial Minerals

• Despite fierce parliamentary opposition to the pact, including resistance from the Europe of Nations and Freedom group, whose co-chair, French presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen, condemned CETA as "terrible (...) undermining thousands of jobs in Europe", the majority of members of the European Parliament (MEPs) supported CETA and the deal was passed by 408 votes to 254, with 33 abstentions. Critics of the deal have argued that the agreement will benefit only multinational companies; however, EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said CETA would deliver economic advantages for small and medium-sized enterprises, through "lower tariffs, less bureaucracy and better access to the market". The MAC is also pressing for additional trade deals with other major markets such as China and India and wants the Canadian government to invest in the necessary infrastructure to transport minerals from often remote Canadian mines to North American sea and lake ports. The EU imported EUR 61m ($64.1m*)-worth of potassic (potash-based) fertilisers from Canada in 2015, while EU exports of mineral-based chemicals to the North American country, including EUR 79.4m of nitrogenous fertilisers (largely urea) in 2015, represent a significant source of foreign exchange earnings for European companies. [...]with future trade relations between the US and Canada uncertain under the new Donald Trump-led Republican administration, which has pushed for increased protectionism in the US and demanded a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade