BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th March, 2019) There are no opportunities to return to discussion of the Transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) between the European Union and the United States in the foreseeable future, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on Wednesday.
"For different reasons, it was not possible to advance it under the [US President Barack] Obama administration, and it is not possible in any foreseeable future to advance now either, and of course also because the US has withdrawn from the Paris [Climate] Agreement," she said, speaking at the European Parliament.
Earlier in the year, the European Commission has requested from EU member states a mandate to negotiate with the United States on the creation of a treaty that removes duties on industrial goods trade. It is now awaiting the decision of the EU Council.
"It is a limited agreement ... on industrial goods, including fisheries and cars ... It is not, however, a full free trade agreement. It is not taking the TTIP out of the freezer," Malmstrom said.
Negotiations on the Transatlantic trade and investment partnership between the European Union and the United States remain frozen.
