US, EU set seventh round of trade talks for Sept. 29 start

The next round of trade talks with the European Union are set for later this month, U.S. trade officials announced Thursday.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said that the seventh round of discussions on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will take place from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3 near Washington in Chevy Chase, Md.

{mosads}The U.S.-EU trade deal would create a $5 trillion trading zone, the world’s largest.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said Wednesday that the deal “will make it easier and less costly for U.S. businesses to export to our largest market.”

“By knocking down barriers to trade — while maintaining our high levels of health, safety, and environmental protection — we’ll increase exports by tens of billions of dollars and support hundreds of thousands of additional U.S. jobs,” he said during remarks at a No Labels event in Washington. 

Earlier this summer, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that the massive trade agreement could boost investment and growth on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Froman said the U.S. and its trading partners are at “a critical moment in this effort” to expand global trade under a set of U.S. priorities. 

“We have an opportunity to shape the rules of the road of these regions and for the global economy in a way that reflects and our values,” he said.

“If we fail to seize that opportunity, there are others working equally hard to establish rules of the road that do not reflect our interests and our values.

“We want to see a race to the top in the global economy, not a race to the bottom that we can’t win and shouldn’t even try to run.”