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Graphic shows timeline of tortured trade talks.
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BUSINESS

U.S. to seek agriculture access in EU trade talks

By Duncan Mil

April 3, 2019 - At a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels on April 3, France is expected to resist giving the European Commission the green light to start EU-U.S. trade negotiations. President Macron’s La République En Marche (LREM) is unlikely to support opening up French markets to U.S. agricultural imports.

Agriculture was among the major sticking points in Obama-era negotiations for a U.S.-EU trade deal -- the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). President Donald Trump shelved the talks in 2016.

Last July, Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker agreed to re-launch negotiations to cut tariffs on industrial goods, including automobiles, and ways for Europe to buy more U.S. soybeans. Trump said he would suspend threatened 25-percent duties on EU-produced cars and auto parts, which he is considering imposing on national security grounds.

EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström told U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington on Wednesday that the bloc could not negotiate on agriculture in new talks due to start this year.

The U.S. had a $169 billion goods deficit with the EU in 2018, despite two-way annual trade of about $806.5 billion.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 02/04/2019; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Associated Press
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