EU, U.S. conclude 14th round TTIP talks in Brussels

The European Union (EU) and the United States concluded a new round of talks on their ambitious trade deal Friday but still with much work to be done to achieve their goal to hammer out the deal this year.

Tough issues remain obstacles at the 14th round of talks on the Transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) and the two sides failed to achieve consolidation of texts as expected after the one-week talks, according to a press briefing held by Chief EU TTIP Negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero and his U.S. counterpart Dan Mullaney.

"TTIP will have up to 30 chapters. And most of these chapters are in different stages of consolidation, meaning we have one text where the differences between the EU and the US are in brackets. We expect further consolidation of texts after the round," Garcia Bercero told reporters.

During this round the EU submitted a record number of 10 new textual proposals. "With all this on the table we have an outline of the future TTIP agreement, but important differences remain and much more work, basically in every area of the talks is needed until we can say we have a deal," he added.

The United States is still reviewing the EU's new proposals but there is no decision yet, Mullaney told reporters.

TTIP comprises of three main blocks, market access for EU and U.S. companies, cooperation on regulatory issues and global rules of trade such as sustainable development or competition policy. Endit