EU and US set for trade negotiations

TOP negotiators from the EU and the US will meet in Brussels today in a further push for a breakthrough in the world trade talks in which agriculture is still a key issue.

Europe’s trade and agriculture commissioners, Peter Mandelson and Mariann Fischer Boel will have talks with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.

Officials from the World Trade Organisation say a deal must be done before holidays in August if a year-end target for wrapping up the negotiations is to be met.

After that, the talks are likely to be knocked off course by elections in the United States and elsewhere and could be set back by several more years.