German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union and the United States should continue to negotiate the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade deal as long as possible, despite opposition in many European countries.

 

"We are still continuing the discussions about TTIP and I think we should continue them as long as possible," Merkel told a meeting of the German BGA trade body on Wednesday. "We will never fall below the standards set by the European Union."

 

She said the most difficult agreements were usually reached at the end of a negotiation, and not at the beginning, and said the EU and the United States could "write a new chapter in the history of globalisation" with a successful deal.