Brussels, 16/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - The EU and United States are laying the foundations for negotiations on a free-trade agreement. There is increasing contact between the two and the move will be discussed, on the sidelines of the G8 meeting at Camp David on 18-19 May, by US President Barack Obama and those European leaders present. The high-level group set up at the end of 2011 to consider such a deal is due to deliver its conclusions in June. In their search for new ways to boost growth and employment, the EU and US would seem determined to reach agreement as quickly as possible.
“We each want an agreement that we can produce in a reasonable period of time, and we need to fashion our work plan around that”, said US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, addressing the textile industry on Monday 14 May. Three days previously, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said he hoped to negotiate an “ambitious and realistic” deal, beginning as early as the start of next year, with talks lasting no more than 18 months. “This can only be done in a comprehensive agreement, on all issues at stake, in a single package”, he added, stating that “a more piecemeal approach will at best allow us to solve only the easy problems while the difficult ones - which have the greatest potential to generate jobs and growth - fall by the wayside.” De Gucht also lifted the veil on the discussions of the high-level group, speaking on 11 May of the scope of a possible agreement, which could, he said, cover customs duties on agricultural and industrial goods, services, public contracts and regulatory issues for both food and non-food products (see EUROPE 10615). “Our teams have been working very hard. … We want a roadmap that goes somewhere. We don't want a bunch of road kill on the way. We don't want a bunch of road blocks and we want to get there on one tank of gas”, Kirk said on Tuesday. (EH/transl.rt)