It was never going to be smooth sailing for the Trans-Pacific Partnership but Friday’s spectacular sinking of the Canada-EU trade deal despite frantic last ditch efforts to salvage it, brings nothing but bad omens for the 12-nation trade deal.

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was supposed to be signed at an EU-Canada summit next week. However, the deal, which would have removed 98 per cent of tariffs and trade barriers between Canada and 28 EU member states, was blocked by the Belgian region of Wallonia.

Sujata Dey, Trade Campaigner with the Council of Canadians, who is currently in Belgium to campaign against the deal, said it’s time to take a “long hard look” at what the CETA impasse means for other controversial deals like the TPP, which includes the massive American and Japanese economies, and creates what has been described as the world’s largest free trade zone.

(click to listen to the interview with Sujata Dey)