Negotiators from the United States and the European Union kicked off Monday a new round of talks on a landmark free trade deal, with an agreement not yet believed to be in sight, dpa reported. The two sides have been negotiating the mammoth free trade pact, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), for a year. It would create the world's largest free-trade area with the goal of spurring growth and jobs. The EU now hopes that the negotiations can wrap up in early 2016, a senior official said on condition of anonymity, before the US presidential election in November of that year. "If it is possible to conclude an ambitious and balanced agreement with the current US administration, it would be good," the official said ahead of this week's sixth negotiating round, which lasts through Friday. "There is not an official timeline, but certainly there is a willingness to continue working intensively," he added.
