Ahead of the two-day talks Commissioner De Gucht said yesterday that the EU and the US made "steady progress" in the talks: "more steady progress than we normally have in a trade negotiation." According to the Commissioner, the objective of TTIP was to ensure that the EU and the US can continue to play a leading role in world markets about norms and standard setting, "not in a 'closed shop' manner, but in an open way". However, Commissioner De Gucht also underlined that Europe's health and safety regulations as well as consumer protection need to be duly respected: "that's not what we are going to negotiate about".
After the meetings with USTR Froman, Commissioner De Gucht will hold a press conference at 18.45hrs CET (Brussels time) which can be followed live on EbS . The Commissioner will also hold a speech at the Atlantic Council afterwards.
