In a separate speech French president François Hollande said the deal would certainly not be completed before Barack Obama left office. “France calls for an end to these negotiations”, Fekl said during an interview on RMC radio in France.
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Germanys economy minister Sigmar Gabriel said Sunday Aug. 28, 2016 that free trade talks between the European Union and the United States have failed, citing lack of progress on any of the major chapters of the long-running negotiations.
Hollande said in a speech on Tuesday that “the best thing is for us to lucidly note this, instead of extending a discussion that can not be completed on this basis”.
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Mr. Fekl’s comments show how skepticism of trade deals is surging on both sides of the Atlantic.
President Francois Hollande on Tuesday appeared to endorse Fekl’s position, telling ambassadors that he could not back a deal by that deadline.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest admitted “significant aspects” of the deal were unresolved, but said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman would travel to Europe in an effort to push the talks forward.
“These discussions can not result in an agreement by the end of the year”, he said, according to the BBC.
Three years of talks on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership have failed to resolve multiple differences, including over food and environmental safety.
The European Commission, which is conducting the TTIP negotiations on EU members’ behalf, on Monday responded to Gabriel’s comments by saying the talks are making progress and are entering a crucial stage.
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Sunday that TTIP negotiations had effectively failed after Europe refused to accept some USA demands.
A Downing Street spokesman said it is “obviously in Europe’s and America’s benefit to get an global trade deal organised”.
“I don’t want to analyse the mind and the intentions of President Hollande”. “We need a clear and definitive stop to these negotiations to start again on good bases”.
Paris announced on Tuesday that it would launch a call with the EU Commission in September aimed at ending negotiations for the TTIP free trade agreement with the United States.
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Three years of inconclusive negotiations – mainly conducted behind closed doors – have drawn widespread opposition from trade unions and civil liberties groups across the continent who see the likely outcome as a scheme that opens the door to USA corporations to bid for public sector contracts in Europe while undermining employment rights.
