French government wants EU to stop trade talks with US

FILE - In this April 23, 2016 file picture a man walking on stilts and dressed like the Statue of Liberty attends a protest against the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, ahead of the visit of United States President Barack Obama in Hannover, Germany. Germany’s economy minister Sigmar Gabriel said Sunday Aug. 28, 2016 that free trade talks between the European Union and the United States have failed, citing lack of progress on any of the major chapters of the long-running negotiations. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber.file)

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PARIS (AP) — France's trade chief says he wants to ask the European Union to end talks with the U.S. on forging a sweeping trade deal that his socialist government sees as too friendly to U.S. business.

Matthias Fekl, France's secretary of state for foreign trade, said Tuesday on RMC radio that "we need a clear, clean, definitive stop" to the negotiations on a proposed Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. He said talks could resume if wider EU-US trade relations improved.

Accusing the American side of offering "just crumbs," Fekl said France would ask the European Commission to halt the talks at a trade ministers meeting in Slovakia next month.

Germany's economy minister said Sunday that negotiations have effectively collapsed, but a U.S. trade official said they're making steady progress.

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