Implications of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement for Processed Food Markets

Canada and the European Union (EU) recently completed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) to liberalize bilateral trade. Processed food trade between Canada and the EU is one of the fastest growing markets, in spite of large trade restrictions due to high tariffs and egregious nontariff barriers (NTB). The processed food sector is characterized by firms which differ in size, productivity, produce differentiated products, and engage in monopolistic competition. We implement a four-region (Canada, the EU, the United States, and the Rest of the World) model of the processed food industry, incorporating these firm characteristics to study the effects of CETA. The results show Canadian and EU bilateral trade flows expand, the number of exporting firms rises, and net welfare in both these countries increases. Though CETA does not liberalize NTBs, we examine the impacts of a 40% cut in NTBs to highlight the benefits that would have accrued had CETA also covered NTBs. Under this scenario, the trade flows would have expanded significantly, and, more importantly, Canadian and EU welfare would have risen by 11.8- and 39.4-fold, respectively. Since CETA excludes the United States, the U.S. processed food industry loses due to greater competition in Canadian and the EU markets, and the net U.S. welfare declines.