Don't Let Spying Row Taint Trade Talks, Kerry Urges EU

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday urged European leaders not to allow a row over alleged U.S. spying to disrupt talks with the EU to create the world's largest free trade zone.

And he renewed calls for U.S. partners to voice their concerns with Washington in order to strengthen "intelligence relationships" in the future.

Speaking on a visit to Poland, Kerry said negotiations with the European Union for a proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would create "one of the most powerful economic forces on the planet and it will raise the standards by which all countries are engaging in economic activities.”

The second round of talks are set to resume on November 11 in Brussels after being postponed due to the U.S. government shutdown last month.

But they have also been clouded by a wave of outrage among European leaders -- most notably the leader of Europe's economic powerhouse German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- after the revelations U.S. security services had tapped European leaders' phones.

"We need to understand as partners we're all in this together. We're all in the effort to try to provide protection to our citizens," Kerry said at a joint press conference with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski.

The United States was working to "strike the right balance between protecting our citizens and obviously the privacy of all of our citizens,” he added.

U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered a review of the intelligence services in the light of the revelations from former U.S. National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden.