Key US-EU Trade Pact Under Threat After More NSA Spying Allegations

A new release of documents from Edward Snowden, a low level contract employee for the US National Security Agency, suggests that the US bugged EU offices in Washington, New York and Brussels, including one operation directed from NATO headquarters. Europe is stunned by the disclosure of intercepted phone calls and compromised fax machines of key officials, which if true, appear to have no national-security justification. “The magazine said Germany was the foremost target for the US surveillance programmes, categorising Washington's key European ally alongside China, Iraq or Saudi Arabia in the intensity of the electronic snooping,” reports the Guardian. Some officials raise comparisons to the Cold War; others have called on Europe to offer asylum to Snowden. The US and Europe, are scheduled to discuss a transatlantic pact worth $4 trillion that would remove trade barriers and coordinate regulations. Removing tariffs alone could boost trade by $180 billion in the first five years by some reports. The negotiations may be derailed as Europe scrambles to understand what sensitive economic and political information may have been collected by the US and how that was distributed and used. – YaleGlobal