Brussels, 28/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - Despite the British referendum vote for the UK to leave the EU (Brexit) and growing opposition from France to the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP), the US reaffirmed its desire on Monday 27 June for the TTIP negotiations to be concluded by the end of 2016.
“Our goal remains to continue working with the EU to conclude an ambitious, comprehensive and high-standard agreement this year”, US Trade Representative Mike Froman said on Monday, although he thought it necessary “to assess” the impact of Brexit on the TTIP negotiations. “The economic and strategic rationale for TTIP remains strong”, he said.
Despite the “unprecedented situation” arising from the British Brexit vote, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström gave assurances on Monday of continuing the trade negotiations being conducted by the EU at all levels, especially the TTIP negotiations, in which she said she was “determined to make as much progress as possible in the months to come”.
Ahead of the 14th round of TTIP negotiations in Brussels on 15 July, Malmström was visiting Washington on Tuesday 28 June, to hold discussions with Froman and maintain momentum on the political level for concluding an agreement in principle by the end of 2016.
On Monday, Froman also recognised the difficulty for the European governments of carrying out the TTIP negotiations. “The Europeans have a lot on their plate - the Brexit vote, the migrant crisis, the rise of scepticism about Brussels and other difficult issues”, he said during a press conference in Washington. “We sympathise and we hope they can summon the needed focus and political will to get this done”.
The previous day, and before the European Council of 28-29 June at which European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was expected to ask the EU28 for renewed support for the TTIP negotiations, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls underlined France's hostility to TTIP, saying the project was “not going in the right direction”. “There can't be agreement of the transatlantic treaty”, he said, stating that this treaty “would impose a vision that would not only sow the seeds for populism but that, quite simply, would be bad for the French economy”, Valls said. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)