Negotiations for a major free-trade agreement between the European
Union and the U.S. have been postponed after Washington expressed its
inability to continue them because of the partial government shutdown.
Officials from EU member-states and the U.S. were scheduled to meet in
Brussels next week to discuss the Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership, or TTIP, which upon its successful conclusion would be the
world’s largest free-trade pact.
However, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman informed EU officials Friday that the federal government shutdown has made it impossible to send a negotiating team to Brussels as scheduled, BBC News reported. Froman said deal talks can continue after the shutdown ends, albeit with an alternate schedule.
The partial government shutdown that began Tuesday has led to a severe staff crunch, as more than 800,000 government employees are temporarily out of work and out of pay. The government was forced to call a halt to all so-called nonessential operations after Congress failed to OK federal spending on either short-term or long-term bases.
Reacting to the U.S. announcement about the negotiations, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a statement that the delay was unfortunate, but the talks would continue once the deadlock ended. “But let me underline that it in no way distracts us from our overall aim of achieving an ambitious trade and investment deal,” he said.
Read more: US Government Shutdown Hits Free Trade Pact Talks With EU
However, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman informed EU officials Friday that the federal government shutdown has made it impossible to send a negotiating team to Brussels as scheduled, BBC News reported. Froman said deal talks can continue after the shutdown ends, albeit with an alternate schedule.
The partial government shutdown that began Tuesday has led to a severe staff crunch, as more than 800,000 government employees are temporarily out of work and out of pay. The government was forced to call a halt to all so-called nonessential operations after Congress failed to OK federal spending on either short-term or long-term bases.
Reacting to the U.S. announcement about the negotiations, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a statement that the delay was unfortunate, but the talks would continue once the deadlock ended. “But let me underline that it in no way distracts us from our overall aim of achieving an ambitious trade and investment deal,” he said.
Read more: US Government Shutdown Hits Free Trade Pact Talks With EU
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