From a Canadian news article published in October of last year:
There's a new pothole on the long, bumpy road towards a Canada-Europe free trade deal: whether human rights and weapons of mass destruction should be addressed in a side agreement to the overall pact.
Diplomats from the European Union say that Canada is balking at the inclusion of language in a final text that would speak to the importance of affirming human rights and non-proliferation efforts.
The clauses would not appear in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement but in a separate so-called Strategic Partnership Agreement.
The EU's new ambassador to Canada, Marie-Anne Coninsx, said Tuesday the two pacts are linked and there won't be a deal on one without the other.
...
Coninsx said she knows Canada and the EU agree totally on the importance of human rights, but if it's not included in the agreement, that could affect the bloc's future treaty negotiations.
"If we would say, 'OK' with all agreements in the world, but not Canada, we send out a wrong signal with other countries," she said.
So what are the implications of this logic for the TTIP? Will the EU ask the U.S. for a human rights clause? And if so, how (badly?) will the U.S. react?
