A protectionist U.S. president and increased European suspicion of a Donald Trump-led America could undermine the prospects of a planned transatlantic free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, Reuters reports.
Trump, the president-elect, has argued that international trade deals hurt U.S. workers and the country’s competitiveness, but it is not clear to what extent Trump the president will resemble Trump the campaigner.
“If the world’s biggest economy follows a protectionist course, its effects will be felt around the world. We can only hope that his words are not followed by corresponding deeds,” says Thilo Brodtmann, head of Germany’s VDMA engineering association.
EU and U.S. officials have for more than three years been negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), with Brussels and Washington recognizing it will not now be completed under President Barack Obama’s term as earlier envisaged.
“TTIP is history,” Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, told online magazine vorwaerts.de when asked about the impact of Trump’s win on the negotiations.
