President Obama’s top trade negotiator said that Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks can’t proceed until the contours of the “Brexit” become more clear.
The trade deal, which boosters were hoping to finalize before Obama leaves office, has been complicated by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. In a referendum held last month, Britons voted 52-48 to leave the EU.
“As a practical matter, it is not possible to meaningfully advance separate trade and investment negotiations with the United Kingdom until some of the basic issues around the future EU-UK relationship have been worked out,” the office of US Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Monday. Froman had met in Washington with his new British equivalent, UK Trade Secretary Liam Fox.
Froman had recently bemoaned the impact of the Brexit on TTIP negotiations. He said the terms of the deal must now be revised, with the UK accounting for roughly one-quarter of US exports to the EU and “40 percent of US wine exports to the EU,” as Reuters noted.
The UK is also the top consumer of American services, as a top US trade delegate noted earlier this month, at the conclusion of a round of TTIP talks.
“Obviously a withdrawal of the UK from the EU market would affect the value of the EU market,” said Dan Mullaney.
Britain has not yet started negotiations with the EU over its secession, having been hampered by political tumult. Former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned after failing last month to make the case for the “Remain” campaign. His successor, Theresa May, just took over two weeks ago.
The Obama administration has claimed that the US needs TTIP more than ever, with the fissure between Britain and Europe. The deal, however, faces significant opposition on the continent. As the Wall Street Journal noted, for example, a May poll showed 70 percent of Germans disapproving of TTIP. There are national elections in Germany and France next year.
Trade deals in the US are currently so unpopular and politically toxic, that Congress isn’t expected to cast a final vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership until the lame duck session—between the election and the inauguration of a new congress.
