The European Union distanced itself from the idea of reviving talks on a broad free-trade agreement with the US as part of EU efforts to gain a permanent exemption from President Donald Trump's controversial import tariffs on steel and aluminium.
The European Union has distanced from the idea of renewing its large-scale Free Trade Agreement with the United States as part of Brussels’s efforts to secure a permanent exclusion from the aluminum and steel import duties.
The European Union will no longer make trade deals with the United States if President Trump follows through on withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, according to a French official whose comments were endorsed by the European Commission. The United States would be excluded.
The United States' new hostility to free trade deals under President Donald Trump is benefiting the European Union, the bloc's top trade official said.
Officials will rush to ‘lock in progress’ on controversial trade deal before Barack Obama leaves White House in January. Trade negotiators will meet in New York next week to search for common ground on the controversial EU-US trade deal, which has been buffeted by strong opposition on both sides of the Atlantic.
Clinching an ambitious bilateral trade and investment pact in the near term remains a key strategic and economic priority, said the US’ and EU’s top trade officials last week, while acknowledging the ongoing uncertainty that surrounds such efforts given the American presidential election debate on the merits of trade deals and the impending “Brexit” referendum in the UK.
Progress was made in the latest round of TTIP talks, but negotiators have a long way to go if the deal is to be signed before Barack Obama leaves office. Michael McKeon gives a briefing on the latest developments.
I was recently granted a rare glimpse behind the official façade of the EU when I met with its Trade Commissioner in her Brussels office. I was there to discuss the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the controversial treaty currently under negotiation between the EU and the USA.
Negotiations on a massive EU-U.S. trade agreement are not even halfway complete, according to a new European Commission internal assessment, and the lack of progress is raising questions about Brussels’ hopes for concluding the agreement before the end of the Obama administration.
A senior US official rejected Monday an EU proposal to create an international investment court that was aimed at resolving one of the disputes holding up their free trade deal.
Cecilia Malmström - Commissioner for Trade
Honourable Members,
We're here today to talk about investment in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Of all the issues in TTIP it has received the most attention and raised the most concern.
In some ways that's surprising. Over 60 years, national governments in the EU negotiated 1400 bilateral investment treaties without any outcry. That network helped European companies become the largest foreign investors in the world. And the investments they made helped create the wave of prosperity that swept Europe in the post-war decades. Moreover, for the countries we partnered with, the deals encouraged much needed capital inflows and created employment.
Commissioner Malmström debated challenges and opportunities with local leaders and reassures their voice will be taken into account within negotiations
According to a leaked document, trade ministers from 14 EU member states wrote last week to incoming European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, urging him not to jettison “difficult issues” like the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in the face of public opposition – “tempting as it may be” – and reminding him that he has a mandate from EU member states to include some form of ISDS in the trade negotiations with Washington.
Europeans are in uproar at chaotic attempts by the EU presidency to rush through 'secret courts' for investors to sue governments who try to protect their citizens and public services.