Canadian government sees agriculture win in free trade agreement with Ecuador

Canada has landed a free trade agreement with Ecuador, which the federal government says “delivers strong results for Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector.”

Under the new deal Canada gains “unprecedented access” to Ecuador and its population of 18 million people.

The agreement includes a dedicated section on agriculture, which contains provisions specific to trade in agricultural goods as well as a sub-committee on agriculture.

Ecuador will provide preferential treatment for Canada’s key agriculture exports, such as grains and oilseeds, cereals, meat, pulse crops, processed foods and “sugar-containing” products. They have also committed to tariff rate quotas and partial duty eliminations for a few sensitive product. Canada has granted to additional market access for supply-managed products such as dairy, poultry and eggs.

Ecuador will remove duties on 97.2 per cent of tariff lines, covering effectively all of Canada’s imports. Ecuador’s current tariffs are on average more than twice as high as Canada’s (6.8 percent versus 3.2 percent), making tariff elimination “particularly advantageous” to Canadian businesses exporting to Ecuador.