 "Barack Obama")
President Barack Obama said on Sunday that he was confident the United States and the European Union would succeed in negotiating a new trans-Atlantic trade deal by the end of the year, saying the benefits of such an agreement were "indisputable."
Obama said images of plants moving overseas and jobs lost created a narrative about trade agreements that "drives, understandably, a lot of suspicion" in places like the US and Germany. But, he added, well-designed trade deals can have greater benefits.
"It is indisputable that it has made our economy stronger," he said. "It has made sure that our businesses are the most competitive in the world." Obama's comments came as he stood next to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany during a news conference in Hanover as they prepared to preside over the opening here of the world's largest industrial trade fair.
The President's visit to Germany was intended to bolster negotiators seeking to wrap up a trans-Atlantic trade agreement between the US and the European Union, an accord that Merkel supports but that is highly unpopular in her country.
The Chancellor greeted the President at the Schloss Herrenhausen, the former summer residence of the Royal House of Hanover. They stood in front of a line of German troops in gray overcoats and green berets as the national anthems for the two nations played before returning inside for a private meeting.
Obama said he hoped the trade negotiations could be completed before he leaves office.
"I don't anticipate that we will be able to complete ratification of a deal by the end of this year, but I do anticipate that we will have completed the agreement," he said. Once negotiations are finished, he said, "people will be able to see exactly why this will be good for our two countries".
©2016 The New York Times News Service
