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THE SECOND ROUND of scheduled talks between top European Union and American officials to clinch the world’s largest trade deal have been cancelled as a result of the US government shutdown.
The discussions were meant to start on Monday but the European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht has confirmed he’s been informed by US Trade Representative Michael Froman that Washington will be unable to send its delegation.
“Next week’s negotiations have therefore been cancelled,” he said in a statement, referring to the planned talks in Brussels.
De Gucht said the delay was “clearly regrettable” but he also insisted that both the EU and the United States were “strongly committed to see the process through”.
Both sides hope to have proposals ready by January to end deep differences over rules and regulations.
Free trade
Gaps on food and aviation safety, to standards for electric cars or the regulation of financial services, stand in the way of plans for a transatlantic deal to create the world’s largest free trade area.
A first round of talks in efforts to seal the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership took place in Washington in July. Besides the cancelled second round, a third round of talks is due to be held in December.
The EU-US deal would cover an area that has 820 million people.
While no timeframe has been set to reach a deal, there is pressure on both sides to make significant progress by late next year before a new European Commission takes office in November 2014.
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This new “free trade deal” will mean that corporations will have the power to challenge regulations and home and abroad. I have yet to see this being mentioned in our media.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/04/eu-trade-deal_n_2994410.html
Re Aran.
You should listen to this man and his link.
Corporations will be able to bypass National Law and European law with rules and regulations that are slipped in here.
America shut down because it takes in $238 billion a month in taxes and spends $283 billion. Not an ideal business partner for the EUSSR which is in trouble all by itself to start with.
If our government shut down , how many days would it take to fix the financial crisis ….. im going with 3
“Obama thrives on crises, not solutions.
This is an important deal for the future if the EU and US are to compete on the world stage against massive trading blocs like India and China. Though we will have to keep a close eye on what the final wording of the agreement is!
US representatives refusing to work because they’ll miss a few days pay? Entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well..
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