Canada and the European Union said they had settled their remaining disagreements over a landmark free trade treaty and expressed confidence it might come into force next year. The two sides wrapped up negotiations in 2014 on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). But opponents in Canada and EU expressed concern about provisions designed to protect investors from state interference, saying they gave too much power to multinational firms. In a joint statement, Canada and the EU said they had made changes to increase the rights of governments to regulate and also setting up a permanent and transparent dispute-settlement tribunal. "We have responded to Canadians, EU citizens, and businesses with a fairer, more transparent, system... We are confident that CETA will be signed in 2016 and will enter into force in 2017," the two sides said in the statement. The agreement could in theory make it easier for the EU to negotiate a separate free trade deal with the United States, where talks have bogged down over opposition to the provisions on settling investor-state disputes.