EU Mulls Change of Tack on US Trade Pact

BRUSSELS— European Union ministers expressed pessimism Friday that the bloc can conclude a massive trade pact with the U.S. anytime soon and debated whether to change tack on the talks.“There is some new start or some new approach needed,” Slovak Eco...

Protestors hold an Anti-TTIP inflatable banner during a demonstration against international trade agreements in Brussels on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. A demonstration was held in the European Quarter on Tuesday to protest against trade and investment deals such as TTIP and CETA. AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

BRUSSELS—European Union ministers expressed pessimism Friday that the bloc can conclude a massive trade pact with the U.S. anytime soon and debated whether to change tack on the talks.

“There is some new start or some new approach needed,” Slovak Economy Minister Peter Ziga, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, told reporters ahead of informal trade talks in Bratislava on Friday.

After three years of negotiations, big differences remain over the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, with work needed in all of the 30 chapters the pact will entail.

TTIP, as the potential deal is called, is aimed at removing barriers to trade between the EU and the U.S. to boost economic growth and employment. The European Commission estimates that the pact could boost EU economic output by 119 billion euros ($133 billion) a year and that of the U.S. economy by 95 billion euros ($106 billion).

Demonstrators protest against the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA in Berlin, Germany Sept. 17, 2016. AP Photo/Markus Schreiber