In my opinion the negotiations with the United States have de facto failed, even though nobody is really admitting it, the minister told ZDF broadcaster, according to a written transcript of the interview to be aired on Sunday.
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Gabriel said in Berlin that no significant issue in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) had been clarified after 14 rounds of talks since July 2013.
However France says its diminishing support lies with Washington, saying the U.S. was giving nothing, or the bare minimum.
“There should be an absolute clear end so that we can restart them on a good basis”, he said on RMC Radio, adding he would suggest that course to fellow ministers.
“I believe that the Americans have actively ended TTIP”.
U.S. president Barack Obama’s term comes to an end in January.
There was also widespread concern about tribunals where foreign investors would be able to sue a host country government if its policies breached the agreement and caused losses to the investor. But that could require big U.S. compromises, which coud create a political firestorm for his successor.
“We are not negotiating to weaken European standards, our environmental standards, our way of life”. It comes hot on the heels of claim yesterday by German deputy Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel that TTIP has failed.
Negotiations are now expected to be held after the US election in November, which could change the political landscape in Washington as protectionist rhetoric has driven the political debate between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. “If it can’t get behind the pact, there is not much chance of completing it soon”.
Top officials of other industry associations such as VDMA and the Auto Industry Association VDA also spoke out against Gabriel’s comments, which highlighted growing divisions within Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition ahead of next year’s elections. For example, sub-federal government procurement has been opened with certain limitations, the European product origin demands have been met, and Canada agreed to use Europe’s new dispute resolution mechanism-the Investment Court System.
The United States have so far resisted this.
A spokesman for US Trade Representative Michael Froman told Der Spiegel on Tuesday that talks on TTIP were progressing.
Transatlantic trade is already worth more than $1 trillion per year, making it the largest commercial relationship in the world.
The European Commission estimates that TTIP would boost global economic output by €30 billion per year over the next ten years.
The UK had been a major advocate of TTIP, but since it voted to leave the European Union, opposition to the deal has grown on both sides of the Atlantic. Britain may now be at the back of Barack Obama’s queue – though what relevance that has given that it will soon be where we stand in Hilary Clinton’s or Donald Trump’s queue that matters.
It appears there is an alignment between the leaders of the Social Democrats in Germany and the French Socialists in France.
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Not a single of the negotiating chapters has closed, while there are forthcoming elections in November in the USA and in April 2017 in France and Germany.
