WASHINGTON, July 18, 2014 – U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is offering an optimistic outlook on the sixth round of negotiations for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP), which ended today in Brussels, but he offered no specifics.
In a brief statement, Froman said negotiators for the U.S. and the European Union “worked productively to identify paths forward.” He did not mention any of the issues involved.
“Opportunity for a major upgrade of one’s biggest economic relationship do not come along often and we cannot afford to squander this one,” Froman said.
“I applaud the efforts of the teams for exploring creative ways to open markets to support job creation, growth and competitiveness, including by bridging divergences in our regulatory regimes, without compromising the level of health, safety and other regulations our people have come to expect.”
One of the major U.S. goals in the treaty is to expand exports of agricultural goods to the EU by eliminating tariffs and quotas and reducing sanitary and phytosanitary barriers not grounded in science. Last year, the U.S. exported about $10 billion in farm goods to the EU, a small fraction of the record $145 billion in total shipments abroad.
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