Trans-Atlantic Free Trade: US Pushes for Deal Despite NSA Scandal

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/us-pushes-for-free-trade-pact-with-eu-despite-nsa-scandal-a-932913.html


A container ship docked at Port Everglades in the US state of Florida.

At the beginning of last week, Michael Froman, the US Trade Representative and Barack Obama's go-to man for difficult deal-making, stood in front of an audience inside the German ambassador's residence in Washington. Speaking to participants from a meeting of the Munich Security Conference, he was so confident of the benefits and prospects of a new trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, that it made the recent headlines of a new trans-Atlantic ice age seem overblown.

The proposed free trade agreement between Europe and the US remains a personal priority of US President Barack Obama, Froman assured the guests, adding that the advantages of closer economic ties between the two continents would be beyond belief.

"Froman's speech sounded like a sales pitch, like a sales presentation," a participant later said. Even when a guest asked if the revelations of NSA spying in Europe must be a topic handled during the negotiations, Froman did not get thrown off course. Data protection is not specifically a trade issue, he countered, adding that such things are best settled separately.

The optimistic remarks by the chief US trade negotiator set the tone for the American position in the free trade agreement negotiations. The motto is that most important thing is to continue moving forward, even if leading European politicians such as the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, are calling for suspending negotiations.

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1. EU and US to resume trade deal talks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24895482

Talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) had been set for October, but were postponed because of the US government shutdown.

Relations have become strained after claims that the US listened to German leader Angela Merkel's mobile calls.

US Secretary of State John Kerry last week urged European leaders not to allow the row to disrupt the talks.

Together the US and EU account for about $30 trillion (£18.7tn) of annual output - almost half the world's total.