“It’s better to let everyone know that France will not be able to approve an accord that still lacks essential elements necessary to guarantee a positive outcome”.
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“Negotiations are bogged down”, said President Francois Hollande.
His trade chief said France wants to halt talks on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement, because it is too friendly to U.S. businesses.
The EU and the USA have been negotiating for three years, and had hoped to reach a deal this year. And in Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the goal of the Obama administration to complete negotiations has not changed despite the criticism.
That prospect looks less likely now, and Britain’s June vote to leave the European Union has further clouded the picture, even though the Commission has a mandate to finalise TTIP talks on behalf of all European Union 28 members. “It is inevitable”, the minister said.
“The fact that TTIP has failed is testament to the hundreds of thousands of people who took to the streets to protest against it, the three million people who signed a petition calling for it to be scrapped, and the huge coalition of civil society groups, trade unions, progressive politicians and activists who came together to stop it. TTIP would have resulted in a massive corporate power grab, and sovereign democracies across the EU would have been deeply compromised”, said Kevin Smith, a spokesperson for campaign group Global Justice Now.
Supporters of the talks say the TTIP could deliver more than $100 billion worth of economic gains on both sides of the Atlantic, but critics say the pact would hand too much power to big multinationals at the expense of consumers and workers.
“The Americans give nothing or just crumbs. that is not how negotiations are done between allies”, he said.
“We need a clear and definitive halt to these negotiations in order to restart on a good foundation”.
He did not say when or under what conditions the talks could restart.
Germany’s Gabriel on Tuesday said that “given the current state of the talks, no agreement is possible”.
Stop TTIP campaigns have been particularly vocal in Germany and Austria, which supporters of TTIP say are among the countries most likely to benefit from increased USA trade.
“The bigger damage will be to the USA global position”, Alden says.
Behind the scenes, top diplomats have told AFP talks may be suspended until after the United States presidential election in November and could even be put on hold until after elections in France and Germany next year.
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The White House said President Barack Obama was sending his top trade official, Michael Froman, to Europe in September to renew talks aimed at creating the world’s largest free-trade zone. The European Commission – which is carrying out negotiations on behalf of EU member states – immediately denounced this declaration.
