MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Germany admits US/Europe trade talks have failed; growing fears of populism reactions
Talks aimed at setting up a U.S.-European free trade zone have run aground because of intransigence on Washington's part, a top German politician said Sunday. The Obama administration and the 28-member European Union have been in talks to set up the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, which would be the world's largest free trade zone. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesNo such thing as Free Trade. If there were there would be no tariff barriers and countries would produce what they wanted and rely on market forces.
Aug 29th, 2016 - 08:50 am - Link - Report abuse 0Seems like the UK might sign one before the EU.
Aug 29th, 2016 - 05:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I wonder how many US$ the Europeans still hold from 2008 when they sucked the mop to get America out of it's self-inflicted bank disaster?
Aug 29th, 2016 - 05:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It's looking more like America wants to do-over Europe again.
Trouble is of course, without the UK the EU will implode unless this 'deal' is agreed.
Britain of course will go from strength to strength without the EU.
Germany.
Aug 29th, 2016 - 06:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI0sGrZ6Jyc
LIVE!
US intransigence?
Aug 29th, 2016 - 06:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And EU absolutely blameless.
Yeah sounds about right.
@5 Englander
Aug 31st, 2016 - 12:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“And EU absolutely blameless.”
Probably not, but they have agreed a free trade deal with Canada so they are obviously not completely unreasonable.
But considering American products, from exploding Pyrex to foods full of toxic dyes and corn syrup, it's hard to see how they can ever come to agreement with the EU.
I suppose we will have this to look forward to when we lose EU consumer protections.
The sky is falling, said Chicken Little.
Sep 01st, 2016 - 04:57 am - Link - Report abuse 0Thought Canada/EU deal still had to be ratified.
Sep 01st, 2016 - 08:12 am - Link - Report abuse 0The US has a trade deal with Canada.
28 or should that be 27 .....countries, all looking to protect their national interests will always make life difficult.
I know there are defeatists and pessimists out there who have no confidence in the UK doing anything but believe me the UK is well capable of standing on its own two feet.
@ 8 Englander
Sep 01st, 2016 - 11:13 am - Link - Report abuse 0“I know there are defeatists and pessimists out there who have no confidence in the UK doing anything but believe me the UK is well capable of standing on its own two feet.”
Absolutely correct!
It just needs the 'Remoaners' castrating and The Canuck BofE moron chucking out of the country to put the icing on the cake. :o)
“But considering American products, from exploding Pyrex to foods full of toxic dyes and corn syrup, it's hard to see how they can ever come to agreement with the EU.
Sep 01st, 2016 - 02:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I suppose we will have this to look forward to when we lose EU consumer protections”
One of the most ridiculous comments on here.
What on earth motivated you to say this?
The US does have federal testing laboratories and certification for consumer products.
With the litigation and liability suits we face in the US today, defective products are costly.
You have far more to worry about with products from China, where they cut baby formula with inert fillers, or worse, toxic ones.
Just for an example.
@8 Englander
Sep 01st, 2016 - 08:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You are right, the deal has been agreed but still needs to be ratified, and it's not entirely certain that it will be either, since as the article says, there is growing public opposition to trade deals. (In fact I'd say this is actually one of the things that contributed to the Brexit.)
And I agree having 28 members all with different national interests does make things difficult. Deals are hard enough to negotiate with only two parties.
The current feeling against free trade is not exactly a positive for the UK though, since we will be needing to get some deals of our own now, and quickly too.
@10 Kanye
I know I gave silly examples, but I do actually have a serious point. The EU and US have very different laws in many areas, and the EU laws on foods are often much stricter, for example on hormones in beef (where the EU ban led to a beef war), GMOs in food which must be labeled in the EU, and various artificial dyes and preservatives which are banned entirely.
Naturally products sold in the US meet US laws on safety, but that doesn't mean they can be legally sold in the EU unless they are also shown to meet EU laws (and the same goes for products from China).
Basically the two have different philosophies in this area, and I doubt either side is really willing to compromise in order to further the free trade deal.
And I am somewhat worried about which 'bureaucratic EU regulations' the UK government will happily toss out the window now. The EU provided all kinds of rights and protections which out government will now be free to remove.
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