EU, US still have work to do on standards in free trade deal: German foreign minister

[BERLIN] The European Union and the United States still have work to do to negotiate standards and procedures in a free trade agreement, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday.

Mr Steinmeier told over 1,000 diplomats and business executives that the two sides were still "far away" from the high quality of standards and procedures that the EU had been able to negotiate in a separate EU free trade deal with Canada.

He said the pace of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) remained unclear after three years of talks, not least because of calls for caution by both US presidential candidates.

Germany's Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Sunday said the talks had "de facto failed".

REUTERS