TTIP talks prepared despite US governmet shutdown

U.S. negotiators said Thursday they were ready and well-prepared for a second round of bilateral free trade talks with the European Union (EU) despite the U.S. government shutdown. However, the two sides reportedly are facing a series tricky issues over regulation compatibility in the talks, which are designed to seal the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and it is expected to take time to reach an agreement. This agreement, the biggest bilateral trade deal ever negotiated, could result in millions of euros in savings to companies and create hundreds of thousands of jobs, EU officials said. EU-U.S.trade is the heaviest in the world with daily amount of goods and services worth 2 billion euros (3.3 billion U.S. dollars). The second round of TTIP talks will take place here on Oct. 7-11. The first round of TTIP talks took place in Washington in July. The White House Office of Management and Budget late Monday night ordered federal agencies to begin plans for the government shutdown, due to Congress's failure to pass a funding bill for the next year. There have been 17 partial shutdowns of federal government agencies since 1977, according to the Congressional Research Service.