Kerry pushes US-EU free trade
26 Feb 2013
US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Berlin pushing President Barack Obama's free trade plan with the European Union.
Obama, who is into his second term as President, wants a free trade deal between the US and the European Union that, he says, would create jobs and growth on both sides of the Atlantic.
Addressing the media after talks with his German counterpart, Kerry said such an agreement would create "jobs for Germans, jobs for Americans and jobs for all Europeans, and help lift the European economy."
Kerry, who is on a nine-country trip through Europe and the Middle East, selected Germany, Europe's largest economy, to drive in his point.
The combined EU is the world's largest economy, representing 40 per cent of global gross domestic product and about half of the world's foreign direct investment.
America's trade with the EU is thrice as much its trade with China and a Trans Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) is expected to raise US GDP by 2 to 4 percentage points.
