French Senate Votes On Controversial CETA Free Trade Deal

File photo dated October 1, 2012 shows beef cattle in pasture beside XL Foods' Lakeside Packers plant at Brooks, Alberta, Canada. The French government on Thursday faces a risky vote on the controversial CETA trade deal between the EU and Canada in the Senate where an unlikely alliance between left and right hopes to torpedo the pact. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) has been in force provisionally since 2017, but requires ratification in all European Union member countries to take full effect. Cattle farmers have always been among the main opponents of CETA. They feared that lower tariffs on Canadian meat imports would lead to unfair competition. Photo byLarry MacDougal/CP/ABACAPRESS.COM