By Frank Jordans
...Sigmar Gabriel, (click here) who is also Germany's Vice Chancellor, compared the TTIP negotiations unfavorably with a free trade deal forged between the 28-nation EU and Canada, which he said was fairer for both sides.
"In my opinion, the negotiations with the United States have de facto failed, even though nobody is really admitting it," Gabriel said during a question-and-answer session with citizens in Berlin.
He noted that in 14 rounds of talks, the two sides haven't agreed on a single common item out of 27 chapters being discussed.
Gabriel accused Washington of being "angry" about the deal that the EU struck with Canada, known as CETA (click here), because it contains elements the U.S. doesn't want to see in the TTIP.
"We mustn't submit to the American proposals," said Gabriel, who is also the head of Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party.
Gabriel's ministry isn't directly involved in the negotiations with Washington because trade agreements are negotiated at the EU level. But such a damning verdict from a leading official in Europe's biggest economy is likely to make further talks between the EU executive and the Obama administration harder....
