France wants to delay the ‘biggest bilateral trade deal in history’ by 2 weeks after learning the USA was allegedly tracking economic communications of EU member states. But Germany says they should go ahead as planned.

“It would seem wise to us to suspend them for a couple of weeks to avoid any controversy and have the time to obtain the information we’ve asked for,”  French government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said Wednesday.

The trade agreement negotiations, which could potentially be a key factor in reversing the slow economic climate, are set to commence Monday in Washington DC.

“It’s not a question of halting the negotiations,”  Vallaud-Belkacem said, adding that espionage and trade are two ‘closely related’ issues.

French President Hollande said Monday there could be no negotiations unless the US could guarantee they would halt their spying operations on EU allies.

Read the full article here.