EU, US to launch trade talks on a sweeping pact
Source: Agencies |
June 18, 2013, Tuesday
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TALKS on a sweeping trade deal between the European Union and the United States are to get underway in Washington next month, President Barack Obama and top European Union officials said yesterday.
"The EU-US relationship is the biggest in the world," Obama said after meeting with European leaders at the G-8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, citing roughly the US$1 trillion in trade in goods and services between the two every year.
"This potentially ground-breaking partnership would deepen those ties," he said.
The head of the EU's executive arm, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, said a deal could bring "huge economic benefits" to both sides.
Summit host British Prime Minister David Cameron said the trade pact could create 2 million jobs.
The aim of the trans-Atlantic deal would be to promote economic growth by eliminating the import tariffs and changing regulations that keep goods made on one side of the Atlantic from being sold on the other side.
TV and movie exempted
Officials have said a deal could be reached next year. But securing one will be tricky. The talks will be watched warily by interest groups and would have to be approved by each side's lawmakers and leaders before the new trade arrangements take effect.
The EU has already yielded to a demand from France to exempt the TV and movie industry from the talks. Barroso said the exception for movies and TV shows could be revisited later. Meanwhile, US labor officials have also expressed skepticism.
The statement of support for the trade deal came just ahead of the opening of the Group of Eight Summit among the leaders of leading industrial nations: The US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia, plus the EU.
Cameron greeted the leaders one-by-one in front of the picturesque lake where the summit was being held and posed for media cameras before they headed into their first closed session, on the global economy.
Obama said there will be sensitivities and politics to overcome by parties on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but he's hopeful they can "stay focused on the big picture" of the economic and strategic importance of the agreement.
Economic alliance
"America and Europe have done extraordinary things together before and I believe we can forge an economic alliance as strong as our diplomatic and security alliances, which of course have been the most powerful in history," Obama said.
Cameron selected Enniskillen as the site of this year's meeting as a way to highlight Northern Ireland's ability to leave behind a four-decade conflict that claimed 3,700 lives.
Significant progress has been made in the 15 years since the US-brokered Good Friday Accords, including a Catholic-Protestant government and the disarmament of the IRA and outlawed Protestant groups responsible for most of the 3,700 death toll.
But tearing down Belfast's nearly 100 "peace lines" - barricades of brick, steel and barbed wire that divide neighborhoods, roads and even one Belfast playground - is still seen by many as too dangerous. Obama cited that playground in his speech, lauding an activist whose work led to the opening of a pedestrian gate in the fence.
The Northern Ireland's unity government announced last month a bold plan to dismantle all peace lines by 2023.
"The EU-US relationship is the biggest in the world," Obama said after meeting with European leaders at the G-8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, citing roughly the US$1 trillion in trade in goods and services between the two every year.
"This potentially ground-breaking partnership would deepen those ties," he said.
The head of the EU's executive arm, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, said a deal could bring "huge economic benefits" to both sides.
Summit host British Prime Minister David Cameron said the trade pact could create 2 million jobs.
The aim of the trans-Atlantic deal would be to promote economic growth by eliminating the import tariffs and changing regulations that keep goods made on one side of the Atlantic from being sold on the other side.
TV and movie exempted
Officials have said a deal could be reached next year. But securing one will be tricky. The talks will be watched warily by interest groups and would have to be approved by each side's lawmakers and leaders before the new trade arrangements take effect.
The EU has already yielded to a demand from France to exempt the TV and movie industry from the talks. Barroso said the exception for movies and TV shows could be revisited later. Meanwhile, US labor officials have also expressed skepticism.
The statement of support for the trade deal came just ahead of the opening of the Group of Eight Summit among the leaders of leading industrial nations: The US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia, plus the EU.
Cameron greeted the leaders one-by-one in front of the picturesque lake where the summit was being held and posed for media cameras before they headed into their first closed session, on the global economy.
Obama said there will be sensitivities and politics to overcome by parties on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but he's hopeful they can "stay focused on the big picture" of the economic and strategic importance of the agreement.
Economic alliance
"America and Europe have done extraordinary things together before and I believe we can forge an economic alliance as strong as our diplomatic and security alliances, which of course have been the most powerful in history," Obama said.
Cameron selected Enniskillen as the site of this year's meeting as a way to highlight Northern Ireland's ability to leave behind a four-decade conflict that claimed 3,700 lives.
Significant progress has been made in the 15 years since the US-brokered Good Friday Accords, including a Catholic-Protestant government and the disarmament of the IRA and outlawed Protestant groups responsible for most of the 3,700 death toll.
But tearing down Belfast's nearly 100 "peace lines" - barricades of brick, steel and barbed wire that divide neighborhoods, roads and even one Belfast playground - is still seen by many as too dangerous. Obama cited that playground in his speech, lauding an activist whose work led to the opening of a pedestrian gate in the fence.
The Northern Ireland's unity government announced last month a bold plan to dismantle all peace lines by 2023.
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