UPI: Energy tops EU-U.S. trade agenda

Trade with the United States could remove obstacles inhibiting European efforts to break Russia's grip on the energy sector, a commissioner said Thursday.

European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told policymakers in Brussels the next phase of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership would focus on rules on energy.

"Those rules can help Europe address the challenge presented by our dependence on Russian energy, by removing the legal obstacles to U.S. exports to the European Union," she said in her remarks. "This dependence has limited Europe's freedom of maneuver in the face of Russia's unacceptable actions in Ukraine."