US, EU set next round of trade talks for Nov. 11-15

U.S. and European trade officials are getting back on track this month with negotiations that were delayed by the government shutdown in October.

The second round of the U.S.-European Union trade talks over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will take place Nov. 11-15 in Brussels, and will put negotiations back on schedule, trade officials said on Monday.

If successful, the trade agreement would create a nearly $5 trillion trading zone.

Talks were originally scheduled for Oct. 7-11 but were postponed because of the 16-day government shutdown.

Negotiators discussed government procurement just before the shutdown started on Oct. 1.

“I am glad to see our talks are going ahead full speed,” said João Vale de Almeida, EU ambassador to the United States.

“We are keeping up momentum in our negotiations as we now turn to services, investment, energy, raw materials and regulatory issues.

U.S. and EU teams will conduct negotiations by video conference throughout November, too.

The third and next round of talks is set to start Dec. 16 in Washington. The first round of talks took place July 8-12.

 

(Source – The Hill, On The Money blog)

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Date Posted

November 05 2013