Trade deal between U.S., EU looks complicated following Brexit vote

Britain’s vote to leave the European Union (EU) has cast into further doubt the future of a far-reaching trade deal between the EU and the United States.

The world’s two biggest economic blocs have been negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, since 2013, and still say they hope to conclude negotiations before the end of the Obama administration in January.

But with the loss of one of the bloc’s strongest trade advocates that has often been a counterweight to more-protectionist EU countries, EU diplomats say the deal’s prospects are now more uncertain than ever.

Britain is the U.S.’s largest trading partner in the EU, as measured by the total export value for goods in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Zsolt Darvas, a senior fellow at Bruegel, an independent Brussels-based think tank, said TTIP was faltering before the U.K vote, but the result has complicated the trade pact’s chances further. “Even before the Brexit vote, the chance for TTIP was very low,” Darvas said.

Senior U.S. and EU officials insist the agreement is moving ahead. “We want to conclude these negotiations before the end of this year,” Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said this month.

Source: MarketWatch