ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) will never accept a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that would weaken EU standards and talks with Washington will resume probably after the U.S. presidential elections if the anti-trade rhetoric there dies down, EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan said on Friday.
"There will only be an agreement if we are satisfied with its content and if it does not sacrifice our standards on labor, the environment and food production," Hogan told reporters during a visit here to attend the shipment of Dutch meat to China and the United States.
"We want to see the U.S. making necessary concessions to meet our demands and requirements. But a lot depends on who wins the elections," he added, "Both candidates have expressed anti-trade sentiments. When this rhetoric dies down, we will resume talks."
U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump has criticized the free trade deal, arguing that such agreements have taken jobs away from U.S. citizens, while Democrat Hillary Clinton has abandoned her support for a similar Pacific trade pact.
Brussels is trying to save talks on TTIP amid growing pressure from France and Germany to abandon the controversial negotiations. If agreed, the trade agreement would create the largest free trade area in the world with a consumer market of 850 million people.
Negotiations, which started as early as 2013, are unlikely to conclude this year, the EU official said.
Market access for agricultural products is a key point in the TTIP negotiations. The EU wants to ring-fence sensitive agricultural products, while the United States is pushing for a full liberalization of tariffs.
The EU commissioner, who is directly involved in the negotiations concerning the agri-sector, stressed, "We will have a deal only if it is good for our farmers and our producers."
Talks are tough over products with protected agricultural names, known as geographical indications, as the United States is reluctant to open its market to such imports, while losing the right to use such names for their own products.
