EU’s Michel Barnier says the allegations of spying on Europe means that trust will be hard to come by in upcoming transatlantic trade talks. He’s also hoping that a derivatives deal is needed to keep the free trade talks on track.
If the spying allegations are proved correct (which seems a pretty done deal) then the EU can take a very strong stance at the negotiating table. I suspect that trade talks are more economically beneficial to the EU than to the US, so the EU should go full out on a bells and whistles deal.
