"The opportunity is there. It is golden. We should take it," said Peter Chase, the chamber's vice president for Europe. Chase said it's very likely the two sides will launch talks next year, but he sees challenges for negotiators.
He said both sides have previously negotiated deals, but with much smaller economies, and have therefore become used to negotiating from the strong position. In this case, they will be roughly equals.
But Jeffrey Schott, a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, sees a potential roadmap in trade deals already in place with South Korea. He said the EU used the U.S. deal with Seoul as a guide for its own deal, which is quite similar.
"What is notable is that each side has been able to make these commitments to Korea, but not to each other," Schott said.
If they follow the Korean agreements, Schott believes the U.S. and the EU could have a deal.
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Follow Desmond Butler on Twitter at http://twitter.com/desmondbutler
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