US presses for ‘rapid’ deal in EU trade talks

WASHINGTON is pressing the European Union to speed up trade negotiations launched after last month’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, two German and a US official have said.

Emily Haber, Germany’s ambassador to the United States, told reporters a working group formed after the Trump-Juncker meeting had convened for the first time this week, and US officials were pressing “for very rapid results”.

She said EU officials would need a clear mandate to move beyond the current “scoping exercise” and a deal would need to be reached before European Parliament elections in May 2019.

“The Americans are in fact pressing for very rapid results,” Ms Haber said at an event to unveil plans for more than 1,000 events in the United States next year aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.

“As far as the timelines go, I would point out that we have European Parliament elections next year, and an agreement would have to be reached in a timely manner before these elections,” she said.

A US official confirmed Washington was asking for talks to be put on “a much faster timeline” but gave no specific date.

A European Commission spokesman confirmed a meeting of the EU-US working group took place this week, but gave no details.

Mr Trump agreed during the meeting with Mr Juncker to refrain from imposing threatened car tariffs on European firms while the two sides launched negotiations to cut tariffs on steel, aluminium and other goods. That surprise agreement eased the threat of a transatlantic trade war. (Reuters)