It’s unfair to criticise the Walloon parliament for raising concerns “so late in the day” over the controversial trade deal between Canada and the EU, when the negotiations have been taking place for seven years in conditions of extreme secrecy. It’s not surprising that the EU is facing such a crisis of legitimacy when such backroom deals cooked up with big business lobbyists are foisted on the public without proper consultation.
With almost 3.5 million people across Europe having signed a petition calling for the toxic trade deal to be scrapped, we should be grateful that at least one parliament is willing to stand up to the EU’s efforts to railroad through a deal that is much more about handing corporations a raft of new powers than about lowering trade barriers.
Nick Dearden
Director, Global Justice Now
• It seems faintly ludicrous that the Walloons can block a trade deal that’s been seven years in the negotiating, but there is a very serious point here that bears on the Brexit negotiations.
From a theoretical economic perspective, free trade sounds like a good idea. The cheapest producer of goods and services gets to sell freely in all markets, reducing prices for consumers and maximising the use of the cheapest resources. As we’ve seen, it’s not that simple. Chinese steel imports destroy the British steel industry, putting thousands out of work. Sweatshops create misery for Bangladeshi workers. The free movement of capital, such as mortgage-backed securities, nearly destroyed the British finance industry. Free movement of labour allows employers to offer wages that British families can’t live on.
Britain and America became great industrial nations when import tariffs protected local industry. Wallonia sounds like an interesting place.
Richard Cooper
Chichester, West Sussex
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