German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel over the weekend alluded to the fact that the European Union and US trade deal is on the rocks, saying that the negotiations have “failed” and that no one on either side of the agreement is willing to say it aloud.
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“Those who are protectionist are Americans, Europe is very open”, Matthias Fekl, France’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, told CNBC on Monday.
German economy minister Sigmar Gabriel has said that Britain must not be allowed to “keep the nice things” that come with European Union membership without taking responsibility for the fallout from Brexit.
“The Commission is making steady progress”, Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said when asked about comments by German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel that the talks had “failed”.
However, a European Commission spokesperson hit back at Gabriel’s suggestions the EU-US trade deal was now a no-go.
Backers of a sweeping U.S. -EU free trade deal see it bringing economic gains on both sides of the Atlantic.
Gabriel is “dancing on eggshells between his roles as Social Democratic Party leader and economy minister”, CDU General Secretary Peter Tauber said on Monday.
“It’s our job to make sure that we adequately inform people about the facts of how TTIP will actually work for the people of Europe”, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at a press conference in Brussels last month.
Christian Wigand, a spokesman for the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm and which is leading the TTIP negotiations, said Sunday that the institution had no comment or reaction at this time.
“It is perfectly plausible to extrapolate from these struggles that the United Kingdom could likely to do a deal faster with the USA, but our special relationship is unlikely to render us any more able to secure a better more comprehensive deal than the European Union is already negotiating in terms of obtaining better access to U.S. markets”, she said.
But U.S. opposition isn’t the biggest hurdle for negotiators to tackle, according to Gabriel.
Last month, Agence France-Presse quoted diplomats as saying that talks may be suspended until after the USA elections in November, as well as elections in France and Germany next year.
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“The negotiations with the USA have de facto failed, because we as Europeans, of course, should not subject ourselves to American demands”, Gabriel said in an interview with German ZDF television on Weekend.
