The French president last week threatened to block the proposed EU-US trade deal. Speaking to journalists at a conference in Paris on 3 May, François Hollande said that he would reject the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) “at this stage” because “France is opposed to unregulated free trade”.

The previous day, Matthias Fekl, the minister representing France in the TTIP talks, said that a halt in the negotiations “is the most probable option”.

He blamed the USA for this, saying that the EU had “offered a lot but received little in return”. All 28 EU member states and the European parliament will have to ratify the TTIP before it comes into force.

So far, there have been 13 rounds of negotiations spread over nearly three years (talks began in July 2013).

The most recent round of TTIP negotiations took place at the end of April, when EU and US officials said that they hope to reach a deal in the second half of this year.

US president Barack Obama leaves the White House next January.