US, Europe resume talks on new trade pact
Source: AP-Excite
By JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG
BRUSSELS (AP) - The United States and the European Union sought Monday to get past a rough patch in diplomatic relations to resume talks on a free trade deal that would grow what is already the world's biggest business relationship.
Negotiators for the Obama administration and the EU say an agreement would create jobs and boost growth in the two economies, which represent almost half of global output but are still not fully recovered from recession. The trade volume in goods and services between the two economies totaled 800 billion euros ($1.08 trillion) last year.
The negotiations, however, are taking place against the backdrop of European pique over reported U.S. electronic espionage of EU citizens, including high-profile leaders like Germany's Angela Merkel. The Greens in the European Parliament on Monday became the latest political group to call for the trade talks to be frozen in response.
Concerns over the talks also grew last week when a Belgian court accused the EU's top trade official of tax fraud. European Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen assured reporters on Monday that Karel De Gucht's legal troubles "will not have any impact" on the talks.
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EU chief negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero, right, shakes hands with U.S. Assistant Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East Daniel Mullaney, upon arrival at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Monday, Nov. 11, 2013. U.S. and European negotiating teams resumed talks Monday on what could become the biggest trade agreement in history: the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
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