Canada has trade and investment agreements with the US and China so why is CETA, a deal signed between Canada and the EU, newsworthy? Perhaps because CETA is more than a traditional investment or trade agreement. Its a free-trade and copyright agreement From the start, the EU realized that for an agreement to be accepted by the Canadians, provincial buy-in was requisite and as such 10 provincial governments were involved in discussions- an unprecedented step during trade negotiations. According to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, once finalized this will be the "biggest deal" Canada as ever made given its scope and range despite the fact that Canada has existing agreements with China and the US (its largest trading partner). While the agreement is only being formalized now, Canada and the EU are not strangers as the EU is Canada's second largest trading partner in goods and services, and the second largest source of FDI in Canada while Canada is the EU's third largest destination and fourth largest source of FDI. With CETA in place, the allowance of intra-company employee transfers would be extremely beneficial from a company efficiency/productivity perspective. As is the fear with any trading pact, in this case the Canadian dairy industry which is begrudgingly allowing twice the current limit of cheese to be imported. CETA supporters feel that this agreement may also be used as a template for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the US and the EU. Source: The Economist