Negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will stop ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s new US administration taking power in January, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström has said.

Speaking in Brussels on Friday, Commissioner Malmström said: “There will be a natural pause [in the negotiations] and we will have to wait for the new [US] administration to see what’s happening. It is reasonable to think that it will be a pause. How long, remains to be seen.”

Trump’s hostility to free trade deals was a feature of his presidential campaign and this week there have been many comments, including from former European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, that “TTIP is dead” following Trump’s election victory.

However, Commissioner Malmström maintained that there were significant benefits in TTIP for both the USA and the EU. She made it clear that the EU would be prepared to continue negotiations, again stating the future of the talks rests with President-elect Trump’s administration.

“We will be ready to resume negotiations when the new US administration feel that they are ready, but the ball is in their court,” she said.

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