EU believes free trade deal with US won't be completed this year

19 Oct, 2016

BERLIN: The European Commission believes it is unlikely that negotiations with the United States over a free trade deal will be completed under the current US administration, a Commission source told Reuters on the condition of anonymity on Wednesday.

It wants to preserve the interim status reached in negotiations between the European Union and the US on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the source added.

This would allow the Commission to continue negotiating with the next US administration after President Barack Obama's term expires in January.

The source said there has been some progress on some issues, which the Commission wants to preserve, instead of starting from scratch with a new US administration.

The U.S ambassador to Germany, John B. Emerson, told a German broadcaster on Tuesday that the two sides were close to bridging differences on many sticking points and that Obama would make a final push for a deal after the US election on Nov. 8.

Copyright Reuters, 2016

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