German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union should keep negotiating with the United States on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The EU and the US are officially aiming to sign the deal before US President Barack Obama leaves office in January, but there are now major doubts about it.

Merkel’s deputy, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel – a member of the Social Democrats, junior coalition partner in Germany’s ruling coalition – unleashed a firestorm last month when he said the free trade talks are “de facto dead”.

Germany says TTIP dead in the water Germany’s Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, said yesterday (28 August) that negotiations on the so-called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – or TTIP – between the EU and the US were effectively dead in the water.

France and Belgium have cast doubt on the prospect of the new trade deal and scepticism is growing among Americans.

“I advocate negotiations continuing now,” Merkel told the Funke Mediengruppe, a German newspaper chain.

She said that many EU member states were suffering from high unemployment, adding: “That’s why we should support everything that can create jobs and that includes the free trade deal.”

Merkel said she had told Obama that during the G20 summit held in China earlier this week.

Asked if the deal still had a chance of coming to pass, Merkel said: “That now depends on the further negotiating process.”