US-European Free Trade Talks To Begin Soon

February 19, 2013

The United States and the European Union are likely to begin negotiations as early as June on what some are calling a "ground breaking" free trade agreement. International trade experts say such an agreement would have substantial economic benefits on both sides of the Atlantic. But the obstacles are many and success is far from guaranteed.

President Barack Obama raised the prospects of a Transatlantic free trade zone at his annual State of the Union address.

"Because trade that is free and fair across the Atlantic supports millions of good paying Americans jobs," Obama said.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was quick to endorse the proposal, saying a comprehensive trade deal with the U.S. would boost Europe's flagging economy.

"It is estimated that when this agreement is up and running, the European economy will get a stimulus of a half percent of our GDP, which translates into tens of billions of euros every year and tens of thousands of new jobs," Manual Barroso said.

In short -- a win-win for developed western nations.

But Sharan Burrow at the International Trade Union Confederation warns an agreement based purely on economic gain will hurt workers in the U.S. and Europe.

"Now -- if it's collaborative, if it's built on a value set that says we want to share the wealth so tools like collective bargaining are absolutely at the core, so we get the distributional effects // it could be very interesting," Burrow said.