The European Commission late last week told member states that the United States is not yet willing to make the kind of concessions on the EU’s key agricultural priorities that are necessary to strike a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal this year.
[Daily News| June 01, 2016 |Inside US Trade]
A May 27 email to member state ambassadors says that “more engagement on issues of EU interest is needed if negotiations are to be concluded under the Obama administration.” It also says that the U.S. administration “does not yet seem to be in a place where it can reciprocate the EU’s efforts on TTIP and to start delivering on matters of EU interest.”
The email was sent by the chef de cabinet of Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan after being vetted by the commission as a whole, according to informed sources. It was sent with a 10-page paper that rebuts arguments made by U.S. Ambassador Anthony Gardner in a May 25 email sent to all EU ambassadors in Brussels.
The May 27 email also reflects public statements by senior EU officials that their TTIP priorities include more protection for foods with geographical names, an enhanced bilateral wine agreement in TTIP and tackling a range of non-tariff barriers relevant for dairy, beef trade as well as pear and apple exports.
