French President François Hollande told French ambassadors he wouldn’t support an agreement that would be concluded before the end of Obama’s mandate.
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The EU commissioner in charge of the negotiations said talks have not broken down and the aim is still a deal by the time Obama leaves office. “We need a clear and definitive stop to these negotiations to start again on good bases”.
However France says its diminishing support lies with Washington, saying the United States was giving nothing, or the bare minimum.
According to Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s Economy Minister, Vice Chancellor, and the leader of the center-left SPD, this state of play means that the TTIP talks are effectively dead.
Behind the scenes, top diplomats have told AFP talks may be suspended until after the USA presidential election in November as well as elections in France and Germany next year.
The deal is aimed at boosting trade and investment between the United States and Europe, Alden says.
Fekl echoed the position of Germany’s econ minister Gabriel who said on Sunday that TTIP negotiations had effectively failed after Europe refused to accept some usa demands.
“The Americans give nothing or just crumbs. that is not how negotiations are done between allies”, he said.
“France calls for an end to these negotiations”, Fekl said during an interview on RMC radio in France.
Fekl’s and Gabriel’s comments highlighted discrepancies between the views in the EU’s two biggest economies and the official line from both the European Commission, the bloc’s executive, and the U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.
He did not say when or under what conditions the talks could restart. Because tariffs between the world’s two largest trading blocs are already low or non-existent, discussion has focused on hard-to-resolve issues such as European bans on common US agricultural practices such as chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-treated beef, and USA laws that limit many public contracts to local companies.
Gabriel, addressing reporters in Berlin on Tuesday, said that without an agreement this year, negotiations would be wound up.
But Gabriel reiterated his opposition to the deal again Tuesday as he put the blame on the US delegation’s failure to move on key changes to the agreement.
European Union trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem however said that she did not agree that the negotiations had failed.
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U.S. president Barack Obama’s term comes to an end in January. However, since the referendum vote to leave the European Union, there has been speculation that the United Kingdom will try and reach its own trade deal with the U.S. and that the collapse of the TTIP could make that easier.
