Obama: US-Europe trade deal may stall if not completed soon

Global Business

US President Barack Obama, left, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrive to inspect a military guard of honur upon arrival at the Herrenhausen Palace in Hannover, northern Germany, Sunday, April 24, 2016 where they meet for bilateral talks. (Odd Andersen/pool photo via AP)

U.S. President Barack Obama says time isn’t on the side of a proposed U.S.-Europe trade he wants to see completed soon.

CCTV’s Guy Henderson reports.

Obama says if negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) aren’t completed by the end of the year, then upcoming political transitions in the U.S. and Europe could mean it won’t be finished for some time.

Obama leaves office in January and France and Germany have elections scheduled for next year.

Obama says he knows that “politics are hard” but he’s urging the deal’s supporters to “keep making our case” with facts and by dispelling misperceptions.

He says the “time is now” for the agreement.

Obama commented as he joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Hannover, Germany, to open a massive industrial technology trade show.

Just before Obama’s visit Germany’s Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel urged the United States to budge in negotiations on the TTIP, and warns that the hoped-for accord could fail if Washington doesn’t give ground.

Gabriel was quoted Sunday as telling the Handelsblatt newspaper that “the Americans want to stick to their ‘buy American’ idea. We can’t accept that.”

Story from the Associated Press.


Joseph Mariathasan of Pangaea Finance Partners on US-EU trade deal

CCTV America interviewed Joseph Mariathasan, partner at Pangaea Finance Partners, about the U.S.-EU trade deal and what the U.S. can learn from Germany.