France does not rule out terminating negotiations with the United States that were meant to forge the world's biggest trade pact, Junior Trade Minister Matthias Fekl told a newspaper, reports Reuters.
Fekl said the negotiations were favouring American interests and "either weren't advancing or were progressing in the wrong direction."
"If nothing changes, it will show that there isn't the will to achieve mutually beneficial negotiations," French regional daily Sud Ouest quoted the secretary of state as saying.
"France is considering all options including an outright termination of negotiations," he added in the interview published on Monday.
If agreed, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would encompass a third of world trade.
While many businesses welcome the accord to create a market of 800 million people, hoping it will add $100 billion a year to economic output on both sides of the Atlantic, opponents in Europe say it could erode EU standards on food safety and the environment, and that negotiations have not been transparent.
Fekl said Europe had made multiple offers but the United States had failed to reciprocate.