BERLIN – The economic fallout over accusations of U.S. spying on European diplomats widened on Wednesday, with France’s government saying it wanted to delay the start of major U.S.-EU trade talks and a German minister suggesting that citizens there stop patronizing American Internet companies such as Google and Facebook if they are concerned about their privacy.
The French call to “temporarily suspend” the talks for about 15 days is the biggest potential economic blow to come from fresh accusations that U.S. intelligence agencies had installed listening devices and accessed the computer networks of European diplomatic offices in Washington, New York and Brussels.
The allegations were first reported this weekend by German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, which said it had reviewed documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
The trade talks, scheduled to begin Monday, aim to sweep away barriers between the United States and the 27-nation European Union, with economic benefits for both sides.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.