US-Europe free trade agreement has come to an end; claims German Chancellor Merkel

Berlin: The ‘Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’ (TTIP), the proposed free trade agreement between the US and the EU, which would have created the largest free trade region of the world, has come to an end, claimed the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel indicated that the negotiations regarding the agreement may not be conducted further, because of the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential elections; as Trump has vehemently opposed international trade agreements.

‘The EU and the US, the two sides of the Atlantic, are the largest trade regions of the world. I was always very persistent about forging this trade agreement with the US. We progressed well, though negotiations cannot be completed now. But sometime in the future, we look forward to resume discussions over this agreement’, in these words, Merkel claimed that presently the deal had come to an end.

The proposed TTIP Agreement, which claimed that it would contribute nearly 300 billion dollars to the world economy, including the US and the EU, was facing growing opposition for the last two years. The opposition groups were alleging that the agreement would prove beneficial only to the big multinational companies. Three months ago, the leading countries like Germany and France had indicated that the deal was as good as ‘dead’. It was also claimed that the growing pressure from and the arrogance of the US have made the deal unsuccessful. Merkel’s statement has vindicated the possibility of the deal having come to an end.