France will ask the European Commission next month to end negotiations on a massive trade deal between the European Union and the United States, the country’s junior minister for trade said Tuesday.
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France has not been an enthusiastic supporter of TTIP for some time, saying it handed too many concessions to the U.S. while Europe stood to get little in return.
Negotiators from the U.S. and the European Union are in talks to finalise the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) which would create the world’s largest free trade area.
France’s trade minister has increased the pressure on the proposed EU-US trade deal by calling for the talks to be called off. “This is not how allies should be negotiating”.
Earlier on Tuesday, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel also said the United States had effectively ended the talks because Washington had not wanted to compromise with its European counterparts.
“We are determined to continue these negotiations”, added EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström.
“Commissioner Malmstrom and U.S. representative Froman are continuing the talks and Ministers will have a chance to take stock of these talks at the upcoming informal trade council in Bratislava on September 22”. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
“Our position on this has not changed”, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
“If both these deals go down in flames, which is quite possible, the USA position in the world is going to be much weaker”, he says.
As Brussels and Washington are struggling to conclude a landmark bilateral trade talks by the end of this year, recent intensified critique from European politicians, along with year-long protests, cast doubt and uncertainty over the deal’s future.
On Monday the European Commission’s spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a news conference that talks are at a “crucial stage”, but there is an outline of the agreement and “the ball is rolling”.
He did not say when or under what conditions the talks could restart. From Washington’s perspective, he says the TTIP and the TPP are both meant to bolster America’s role as the leading force for setting global trade rules.
It follows comments from Germany’s vice-chancellor indicating the controversial negotiations over the free trade deal are effectively dead in the water.
“It will protect jobs, it will protect their regulatory rights, protect their abilities with respect to labour and the environment”, he said.
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Supporters say the TTIP could deliver more than $100 billion worth of economic gains on both sides of the Atlantic, according to Reuters, but critics say the pact would hand too much power to big multinationals at the expense of consumers and workers.
