EU, U.S. to continue talks on free trade deal despite Brexit

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Union and the United States will continue negotiating a major free trade deal, despite Britain's decision to leave the EU, Europe's top trade official said Wednesday, June 29, according to the Associated Press.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said at a think tank event that until Britain formally begins a process of withdrawing from the bloc, negotiations will proceed on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, on behalf of all its 28 members.

"Sooner or later we will have to take some decisions when we see which way the UK is going, but for the moment it is there," Malmstrom said at the Atlantic Council. "The U.S. and the EU have all the reasons in the world to facilitate trade between us and that hasn't changed. So yes, TTIP will survive Brexit."

Britons shocked the world last week by voting to exit from the European Union, and EU leaders are now trying to chart a path forward. With Britain also roiled by its decision, an official procedure on leaving the bloc likely with not be initiated for at least several months.

"There are a lot of uncertainties related to Brexit. We cannot answer them now and we will have to wait until we see a more clear picture of that," Malmstrom adde, according to AP.