Brussels, 08/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - The day after 50 economists launched a call to American President Barack Obama to break the deadlock in the Doha Round multilateral negotiations, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht brought more grist to the mill when he criticised the US administration of dragging its feet on free trade because of what he suggested were unfounded domestic fears. The Obama administration's aversion to any discussion on trade liberalisation bears heavily on the climate in international trade, already suffering severe economic difficulty, De Gucht told the economic affairs committee of the United Kingdom House of Lords on 6 September. Even the idea of talking about trade made the Americans tremble, the commissioner said, adding that their slogan was now, “Jobs in the United States”. He argued that the Americans had not realised that, to create employment, there also has to be trade. For the moment, free trade is of no concern to the US whatsoever, said De Gucht who is seeing his hopes to concluding the Doha Round and defining intellectual property and public procurement rules fading fast. The EU remained open to discussion on all these issues, but it was as if the Americans wanted to take a break, he said. On Thursday, President Obama presented his economic recovery plan to the Congress. (E.H./transl.rt)