Merkel Says Spy Scandal Is Testing EU-US Trade Talks

Relations with the US and a proposed transatlantic free trade agreement are “being put to the test” amid reports of US National Security Agency surveillance, suggests German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Berlin is pressing the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, to incorporate data safeguards into the negotiations for the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, launched this year by EU leaders and US President Barack Obama,” reports Stefan Wagstyl for the Financial Times. “Separately, German officials also want closer government-to-government co-operation on espionage.” Wagstyl goes on to explain that Germany is torn between privacy concerns and excessive relations. German politicians and corporate leaders expect clarification from the United States and other nations, even as they continue to worry about the use and storage of alleged mass data collections of telephone calls and email connections for industrial espionage. – YaleGlobal