U.S., EU: Trade To Open Slowly

Full-scale liberalization of trade between the U.S. and the 15-nation European Union (EU) will apparently come more slowly than anticipated. The original plan was to establish a New Transatlantic Marketplace for many services and to eliminate tariffs on industrial goods by 2010. But with France refusing to include farm produce and audio-visual items, Sir Leon Brittan, the EU's trade commissioner, now foresees "a rolling agenda for cooperation and negotiation rather than [the conclusion of ] a Big-Bang agreement."