European leaders agreed on Friday to push for a free-trade pact with the United States, putting the onus on the White House to decide whether to try for a deal that would encompass half the world’s economic output.
Major exporters Germany and Britain won support from the rest of the European Union at a summit in Brussels to reach a deal with Washington that many leaders hope will help Europe pull out of its banking and debt crises.
In their final statement, leaders said the European Union gave “its support for a comprehensive trade agreement” with the United States.
“We need to move forward,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said at the end of the summit, referring to the United States. “The Commission will push ahead to realise the full potential of an integrated transatlantic trade agreement,” said Barroso, who heads the EU executive responsible for negotiating the European Union’s trade agreements.
The EU leaders’ statement raises expectations that U.S. President Barack Obama may endorse the initiative next Tuesday in his annual State of the Union speech, which presidents traditionally use to lay out their priorities for the year.
A U.S. trade official in Washington said EU leaders’ unity was “helpful in building confidence that the EU has the political will to do what is necessary for an agreement.”
Europe’s main business lobby, Business Europe, urged Obama to embrace the momentum in a letter released on Friday on behalf of 41 business federations, calling on him to give “a strong signal” and “political support” for the talks.
With economic growth elusive on both sides of the Atlantic, Obama and EU leaders tasked their trade chiefs in 2011 to look at whether it was feasible to agree a deal to further integrate the two blocs that already have low tariffs.
A U.S.-EU draft proposal drawn up by EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk is essentially ready. De Gucht, who went to Washington this week, has given strong signals that there is enough common ground to go ahead with negotiations.
Talks could start in months, and while De Gucht was warned of difficult negotiations, both sides appear to want to agree on an accord quickly, possibly by the end of 2014.