Obama Says U.S. Will Begin Trade Talks With 27 EU Nations


By Brian Wingfield - Feb 13, 2013 4:22 AM CT

President Barack Obama pledged to pursue a trade agreement with the European Union that would expand the world’s largest economic relationship, while at the same time finishing discussions for a Pacific-region accord.

“Trade that is fair and free across the Atlantic supports millions of good-paying American jobs,” Obama said yesterday during his State of the Union speech. It was his strongest commitment to trade negotiations with the EU.

Talks with the 27-nation EU may help Obama meet his goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014 as other global trade negotiations stall and China increases its role internationally. Obama’s administration also plans to complete negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership with 10 nations and increase America’s role as a manufacturing center.

Recent U.S. trade agreements took years of negotiations. The administration didn’t specify when the EU talks would begin.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, who has said he’ll push for an EU-U.S. accord at the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland this year, welcomed Obama’s announcement.

“Breaking down the remaining trade barriers and securing a comprehensive deal will require hard work and bold decisions on both sides,” Cameron said in an e-mailed statement today. “But I am determined to use my chairmanship of the G-8 to help achieve this and to help European and American businesses succeed in the global race.”

Farm Subsidies

While trade and investment between the U.S. and the EU was valued at $4.5 trillion in 2011, the partners have been at odds over issues including farm subsidies, health protections and regulatory standards.

Obama’s trade representative, Ron Kirk, said he plans to leave office by the end of this month. A replacement hasn’t been named.

Negotiating both accords at the same time is doable because they will be on separate tracks,Ken Monahan, senior trade analyst at Bloomberg Government, said by e-mail. The countries working toward a Pacific trade pact have targeted late-2013 for conclusion of that deal, while the U.S. and EU probably won’t reach an agreement until next year at the earliest, he said.

“Negotiations will not be easy, but they have enormous potential to open new opportunities for us to sell our goods and services in the EU,” House Ways and Means Committee ChairmanDave Camp, a Michigan Republican, said in a statement.

Intellectual Property

Congressional support for an EU deal depends on issues including better market access for U.S. agricultural goods, strong intellectual property protections and a means to settle disputes, leaders of the Senate Finance Committee said yesterday in a letter to Kirk.

A free-trade agreement between the U.S. and EU is an “enticing opportunity,” the senators, Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, and Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, wrote.

U.S. and EU negotiators, led by Kirk and European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, have been working since late 2011 on an outline of the scope of a potential accord. The group released an interim report in June, setting among the goals the removal of all duties on bilateral trade. A final report hasn’t been issued.
De Gucht and European Commission President Jose Barroso are scheduled to hold a news conference in Brussels at 12:30 p.m. local time.

The EU, reeling from a sovereign-debt crisis, and Washington-based industry groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable have urged the Obama administration to pursue a trans-Atlantic accord.

While Vice President Joe Biden said in Munich on Feb. 2 that such as deal is “within our reach,” he cautioned: “The question now is whether the political will exists to resolve those long-standing differences.”

Obama Says U.S. Will Begin Trade Talks With 27 EU Nations - Bloomberg