With the US presidential election now over, Washington
and Brussels should turn their attention toward launching negotiations for a
bilateral trade deal, the EU’s top trade official said last week, particularly
given the continued economic difficulties facing both sides.
The comments came as new EU forecasts show the short-term
outlook for the 27-country bloc as remaining “fragile,” though projections for
2013 and 2014 show the possibility of improvement. The US, for its part, is
facing the need to avert a looming “fiscal cliff” of scheduled tax hikes and
spending cuts that could - if not lifted by Congress - plunge its economy back
into recession.
The EU-US High-Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth,
which is jointly chaired by De Gucht and US Trade
Representative Ron Kirk, is expected to issue a final set of recommendations to
US and EU leaders in the coming weeks regarding whether the two trading partners
should begin negotiations for a trade deal. An interim report released by the
group in June indicated that a broad, comprehensive bilateral pact could be the
best option for deepening the already vast Brussels-Washington trade
relationship.