Flash: US and EU trade talks and G8 - BBH

FXstreet.com (London) - Marc Chandler, Global Head of Currency Strategy at BBH said that the US and the EU are set to begin ambitious trade talks at the end of the week. He said that it is hoped to cover areas that have previously frustrated trade negotiators, including agriculture, intellectual property rights, investment and non-tariff barriers today. He also says that it is also hoped to include provisions on employment and the environment, as well as regulation, government procurement and consumer protection rules.

Marc Chandler explains, for its part, the US may push to exclude regulation of financial services. He say’s, the US and Europe, for example, appear to be moving in opposite directions in treatment of systemically important financial institutions. Many key US officials, including at the Federal Reserve, address the too-big-to-fail issue with limitations on size as much as boosting capital requirements. European officials, where many banks are can still overwhelm a country's ability to support, are more inclined to limit size of financial institutions he explained.

Moreover he said, a poor tone at these talks would sour next week's G8 Summit. That meeting also has an ambitious agenda and agreeing to start the trade talks could give the summit important momentum. He suggest that the efforts to introduce greater transparency on corporate ownership and to make the location of production and taxes on country-by-country basis publicly available are subject to heated discussions within the G8.