EU-US TTIP trade deal 'effectively dead'

The EU's contentious trade deal with the US has "collapsed" after three years of talks, according to Germany's economy minister Sigmar Gabriel.

Speaking at the weekend, Gabriel claimed disagreements between the European Union and the US have killed off the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which would have been the largest bilateral free trade agreement ever.

"The talks with the US have de facto failed because we Europeans of course must not succumb to American demands. Nothing is moving forward," Gabriel said.

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The UK had been a major advocate of TTIP, but since it voted to leave the EU, opposition to the deal has grown on both sides of the Atlantic.

French President Francois Hollande objected to plans to open up Europe's farming and film markets to more US competition, while protesters in Germany claimed the deal would undermine labour and environmental standards.

In the US, both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have hardened their position on free trade deals, promising to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a similar deal to cut barriers to trade with east Asian nations.

In Britain, the failure of TTIP "may strengthen the Brexiteers' argument that the UK will be more nimble on its own, as it will not have to co-ordinate 27 EU countries' individual desires into one combined EU effort", says the Daily Telegraph.