Negotiators from the European Commission and the Obama administration in the United States will be meeting in New York on 3 to 7 October for the 15th round of talks on a free-trade deal between the EU and the US (TTIP), were they will try to nail down as much progress as possible in the talks before a new US president takes over from Barack Obama in early January 2017, a Commission source told EUROPE on Friday 30 September.
All issues in each of the three aspects of the talks will be covered (market access, regulatory convergence and rules) but negotiators will focus on consolidating the draft agreement, particularly regulatory aspects.
The source says they want to make progress on the raft of regulations and want an advanced consolidation by the end of the year. They want to go as far as possible under the Obama administration and capture as much progress as possible. If ther is a more mature, more stable text, then it will be easy for the new team in Washington to make decisions to advance the talks, added the source.
EU and US negotiators no longer have any illusions about reducing their differences on the sensitive question of market access (tariffs, services and public procurement) before Obama’s administration leaves office.
The source said they were not making any attempt to hide the fact that the two sides' differences are quite large. In Kiev, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstöm confirmed on Friday that the EU and the US were in intense talks to try to make as much progress as possible before the end of the Obama administration. She said that if it is not possible to conclude the talks, then they would have to look at what is one the table and maybe take a break while awaiting the new US president. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)