Merkel says EU-US trade deal won't be concluded

[BERLIN] German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted Thursday that a trade deal between the European Union and United States would not be concluded now, after the election of Donald Trump, who opposes the planned accord.

"I have always been strongly engaged for a conclusion of a trade deal with the United States. We have made a lot of progress on the negotiations, but it will not be concluded now," she said, following talks with US President Barack Obama on his farewell tour of Europe.

"I am sure that one day we can come back to it," she added.

Brussels and Washington had sought to get the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) through by the time Mr Obama left office but have fallen short.

Under negotiation since 2013, the trade accord was meant to have been one of the most ambitious free trade accords ever signed, creating the world's biggest free trade market of 850 million people.

But it had ran into increasing popular opposition in Europe, where voters have grown increasingly sceptical of the benefits of globalisation.

Ms Merkel acknowledged that "globalisation ... needs to be given a human face" but she stressed that the world must not fall back into pre-globalisation times.

AFP