International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland is expected to release a statement shortly explaining what happened during her meeting with Belgian officials, her office said. ( CHRIS WATTIE / REUTERS )OTTAWA—International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland walked out Friday on talks aimed at convincing the holdout Belgian region of Wallonia to agree to the European Union’s wide-ranging free trade deal with Canada. Magnette spent hours talking with International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland to find a compromise after she held talks on Thursday with Belgium’s foreign minister. ( FRANCOIS GUILLOT )Unless Wallonia can be persuaded to buy into the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, a deal that took seven years to negotiate will go down in flames. — A deal among the European Commission, the Belgian government and the Wallonia regional government could allow the Walloons to claim some sort of face-saving victory.

Source: thestar October 21, 2016 12:21 UTC