New round of EU-US trade talks kick off in Brussels

A new round of negotiations aimed at removing trade barriers between the European Union (EU) and the United States in a wide range of areas were launched Monday here. The talks will help pave the way for a future trade and investment deal, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Negotiators will discuss different aspects of the agreement, including trade in services, public procurement, rules of origin, technical barriers to trade, agriculture, customs and trade facilitation in the following five days, according to the EU. Talks on a future EU-U.S. trade deal started in July 2013 and are set to continue throughout 2014. A previous round of negotiations were closed in December 2013 in Washington, which made progress on the three core parts of the TTIP, including market access, regulatory aspects and rules. An EU-U.S. trade agreement would cut businesses' costs and generate enough growth and jobs to boost the EU economy by up to 120 billion euros.