French President Macron regrets the Senate’s vote to reject the EU-Canada trade deal

By SYLVIE CORBET
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron says he “regrets” the Senate’s vote to reject legislation to ratify a trade deal between the European Union and Canada. The so-called CETA deal has been criticized by farmers as bringing unfair competition from abroad. It provisionally went into effect in September 2017 after all EU governments agreed to it, but its full implementation requires approval by each national parliament. Thursday’s vote in the French Senate does not necessarily mean that the country ultimately will reject ratification. Macron said the text is to be sent back to France’s lower house of parliament for further discussion. Major farmers’ unions and food producer organizations in France say the CETA agreement would in the long term hurt the country’s food industry.