Just two days after Germany’s outspoken vice chancellor (who has over the past 48 hours slammed not just Merkel’s refugee policy but also Brexit negotiation demands), announced that Obama’s transatlantic trade treaty, the TTIP, is dead, saying negotiations have failed because “we Europeans did not want to subject ourselves to American demands”, France voiced its support to the German position when the French trade minister on Tuesday called for an end to trade negotiations between the European Union and the U.S., the firmest sign yet of opposition in Europe to what would be the most ambitious trade deal in decades.
Matthias Fekl, cited by the WSJ, said on French radio that “France no longer politically supports these negotiations,” adding that “The Americans are giving us nothing. This is not how allies should be negotiating.” Fekl said he would ask the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, at a meeting of trade ministers late September to end negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, generally known as TTIP. The Commission leads talks with the U.S. for the EU.
Read more“The Americans Give Us Nothing”: France Effectively Kills TTIP, Calls For End To Negotiations