EU NewsBrief: EU/U.S. Leaders to Launch Negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

News provided by

Delegation of the European Union to the United States

Feb 13, 2013, 05:16 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Leaders from the European Union and the United States announced today that they will initiate internal procedures to launch negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Together, the EU and U.S. would form the largest free trade zone in the world, and a future deal is expected to provide a strong boost to the economies on both sides of the Atlantic.

In a joint statement, United States President Barack Obama, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso noted that "The transatlantic economic relationship is already the world's largest, accounting for half of global economic output and nearly one trillion dollars in goods and services trade, and supporting millions of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. We are committed to making this relationship an even stronger driver of our prosperity."

Writing in the Christian Science Monitor, Ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida, Head of the European Union Delegation to the United States, said that an agreement "would undoubtedly be a recovery booster."

More information:

http://www.eurunion.org/eu/2013-News-Releases/Statement-from-ObamaVan-Rompuy-and-Barroso.html

Op-Ed by Ambassador Vale de Almeida in the Christian Science Monitor:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2013/0213/Why-EU-US-free-trade-agreement-would-benefit-both-sides?nav=87-frontpage-entryCommentary

Final Report of the High Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth:

http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2013/february/tradoc_150519.pdf

SOURCE Delegation of the European Union to the United States