Hogan slams US over trade deal talks

The US was accused by Phil Hogan, the EU Agriculture Commissioner, of creating suspicion and conspiracy theories over their handling of the trade agreement between the EU and the US.

The Americans may not be interested in going ahead with the negotiations before the presidential elections in 2016, and the commission may decide to park the talks until after that, he said.

His statement coincides with an effort by the commission to improve the image of the planned deal among the mainly hostile European public by promising to make details more public.

Mr Hogan and a number of other commissioners meet the US chief negotiator, Michael Froman, tomorrow in Brussels in an effort to unblock the long-stalled negotiations.

“We have put forward our proposals in a very open and transparent way, they will be published in the near future but unfortunately the United States cannot even tell their own Congress about the content of their negotiating mandate, which is creating conspiracy, suspicion, and misinformation,” he said.

The Americans have been slow to respond to position papers from the EU and over the past 18 months, there were just five meetings between negotiating groups.