US protectionism is being blamed by French and German government ministers for important free trade talks between the USA and the European Union teetering on the brink of collapse.
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“The ball is rolling right now”.
The European Union’s executive said on Monday it had a unanimous mandate from the bloc’s 28 members to finalise negotiations on a free trade deal with the United States, a day after Germany’s economy minister said the talks had “de facto failed”.
“Talks are now indeed entering a crucial stage but. provided the conditions are right, the commission stands ready to close this deal by the end of the year”, Schinas told a regular press briefing.
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiators must soon strike deals on market access for services and certification of regulatory standards, sources have said, if the EU-US trade deal is to be struck before the end of the Obama Administration. The talks have also been bogged down amid widespread suspicion in the 28-nation European Union that a deal would undercut the bloc’s standards in key areas such as health and welfare.
As the U.S. presidential vote nears and with the French and Germans heading to the polls in 2017, Gabriel is only the latest high-ranking European to cast doubt on a swift deal.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested he would “never sign any trade agreement which hurts our workers or which diminishes our freedom and independence” – a swipe at TTIP.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said that while Europe and the United States still disagree over certain parts of a free trade deal, the talks aren’t over yet.
Gabriel is “dancing on eggshells between his roles as Social Democratic Party leader and economy minister”, CDU General Secretary Peter Tauber said on Monday.
“TTIP shouldn’t be allowed to fall victim to the incipient election campaign”, Matthias Wissmann, head of Germany’s VDA auto industry association, said in a statement on the group’s website.
Steffen Seibert also told reporters in Berlin it was “right to continue negotiating”, noting that often a breakthrough is only achieved “in the final round”. He said Europeans don’t want to “subject ourselves to American demands” and highlighted that out of the 27 chapters of the deal that have been discussed, worldwide negotiators have yet to fully agree on any of them.
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The White House also disputed Gabriel’s contention, saying it was still aiming to reach a deal by the end of the year.
