U.S. and Europe to Start Ambitious but Delicate Trade Talks

Mr. Obama said that the first round of talks would begin next month in Washington between the United States and the 27-nation Europe Union. “The U.S.-E.U. relationship is the largest in the world — it makes up almost half of global G.D.P.,” Mr. Obama said, referring to gross domestic product. “This potentially groundbreaking partnership would deepen those ties.”

But President François Hollande of France expressed disbelief at comments José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, made over the weekend. In an interview, Mr. Barroso had criticized as “reactionary” France’s insistence on protecting its film and television industries as a condition of supporting the trade negotiations.

“I do not want to believe that the president of the European Commission could have made the statements about France, or even about the artists, that were made,” Mr. Hollande said, according to the Web sites of several French news organizations.

Mr. Hollande did not appear in a media tent here at the Lough Erne Resort when Mr. Obama and Mr. Barroso — with Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and David Cameron, the British prime minister — announced the timing of the trade negotiations. French reporters said Mr. Hollande was busy preparing for his meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Aside from trade, the two-day Group of 8 meeting was likely to be dominated by the civil war in Syria. Other financial issues on the agenda were measures to clamp down on tax evasion and the legal ruses multinational companies use to limit their tax liabilities.

Mr. Cameron, the host of the meeting, was by far the most effusive of the leaders who spoke about their trade ambitions. “We’re talking about what could be the biggest bilateral trade deal in history, a deal that would have a greater impact than all the other trade deals on the table put together,” he said.

A trade pact between the United States and the European Union has long been an ambition of policy makers. According to the European Commission, the executive arm of the bloc, such a deal would allow European companies to sell an additional 187 billion euros, $250 billion, worth of goods and services a year to the United States.

The angry French response highlighted the delicacy of the negotiations, which will aim to reduce trans-Atlantic tariffs and streamline regulations to stimulate economic growth in the United States and Europe.

Last Friday, after a campaign by French artists and politicians, European Union trade ministers agreed to accede to France’s demands to protect the audiovisual sector.

In his interview after the agreement, Mr. Barroso said France’s Socialist government was advocating an “anti-globalization agenda” that was “completely reactionary.”

Mr. Barroso’s comments were described as “scandalous and dangerous” in a statement on Monday from the French Socialist Party.

In addressing reporters on Monday, Mr. Barroso took no questions and did not comment on the French reaction.

Speaking in Brussels, Olivier Bailly, a spokesman for the European Commission, said that Mr. Barroso’s comments had referred not to the French government but to those who had “made personal attacks” against him before the negotiations. Mr. Bailly did not identify them.

In response to the French objections, some Europeans worry that the United States will seek to exclude financial services from the talks, reducing their scope significantly.

Mr. Obama acknowledged those concerns. “There are going to be sensitivities on both sides,” he said. “There are going to be politics on both sides. But if we can look beyond the narrow concerns to stay focused on the big picture — the economic and strategic importance of this partnership — I’m hopeful we can achieve the kind of high-standard, comprehensive agreement that the global trading system is looking to us to develop.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: June 17, 2013

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article stated incorrectly the timing of an interview with José Manuel Barroso. The interview was on Friday before trade ministers agreed to accede to France’s demands to protect the audiovisual sector, not after the agreement.

Square Feet: Ambitious Paris Project Takes Shape in the Suburbs

In response, the city government has begun an ambitious program of large-scale, mixed-use developments on the periphery. The goals are twofold: creating an engine for economic growth while preserving the Belle Époque Paris beloved by tens of millions of tourists; and integrating the prosperous city with struggling inner-ring suburbs, or banlieues.

Though France, and much of Europe, remains mired in economic malaise, one such development, the Clichy Batignolles project in northwest Paris, is gaining momentum this year after more than a decade of planning.

The first residents moved in last fall, the second phase of a much-loved and much-needed park is close to completion, an office complex that will be owned by the New York real estate company Tishman Speyer is seeking tenants, and site preparation is nearly done for a soaring courthouse designed by Renzo Piano’s studio that will be one of the tallest buildings in Paris.

Mr. Piano first made his mark in Paris with the radical Pompidou Center in the mid-1970s. He acknowledged that the courthouse and the Clichy Batignolles project were taking Paris in a different direction — but a necessary one, he argued in an interview at his Paris workshop.

“We are celebrating a shift in the history of the town,” he said. “We are bringing the fertilizing elements to the periphery. You are changing something, and changing something is not easy.”

By the numbers, the 133-acre project is impressive for any city: 12,700 projected jobs; 3,400 housing units, subsidized and market-rate; 1.5 million square feet of office space; 410,000 square feet of public facilities, including schools; 334,000 square feet of shops and services — and 90 courtrooms and offices to accommodate some 8,000 people a day in the 524-foot-tall courthouse.

Garbage and recyclables will be collected with a system of pneumatic tubes, sharply cutting emissions and odors. Buildings with “green” roofs with vegetation, slabs of photovoltaic cells and geothermal heating point to an ambitious goal of carbon neutrality.

The project will offer commuters and residents a range of transportation options, including two new Metro stations, an extension of the tramway that nearly circles the city, a regional rail station and a 600-space underground parking garage.

But Paris being Paris, the prospect of high-rise offices, glossy apartment blocks and a large influx of low-income housing has not been received with great enthusiasm.

Brigitte Kuster, the maire, or mayor, of the 17th Arrondissement, protested that the area already had a large amount of subsidized housing, said Hubert Jamault, her chief of staff. Ms. Kuster, he said, “is not against the construction of social housing, but she does not want all the difficulties to be concentrated in the same place.”

Now, he said, after a petition drive, appeals to the city council and “numerous” public meetings with the city, her concerns have largely been addressed.

The decision to allow buildings up to 50 meters tall (about 160 feet) “has been the subject of a broad dialogue with local residents,” said Anne Hidalgo, a deputy mayor of Paris and a champion of the project. (The courthouse is an exception.)

Ms. Hidalgo, a leading candidate for mayor in elections next year, said the height of the buildings would be in proportion to the park — similar to Central Park in New York — and would allow for innovative architecture, and views and light for inhabitants.

“I’m quite happy with the results,” Ms. Hidalgo said via e-mail, “which offer Paris a new neighborhood that is ecological, a pleasant place to live, innovative in all ways, very Parisian, and resolutely turned toward the future.”

Clichy Batignolles, named for the adjoining neighborhoods, was first planned in 2001 under Mayor Bertrand Delanoë of Paris and Ms. Hidalgo, said Didier Bailly, director general of Paris Batignolles Aménagement, the corporation formed to oversee much of the project.

In the subsequent years, transportation, housing and office components were added, and — reminiscent of the Hudson Yards development in Manhattan — the site became a centerpiece of Paris’s bid for the 2012 Olympics, which were captured by London.

By 2008, Mr. Bailly said, all the components of the project were in place with the deal to build the courthouse. That year, though, the persistent recession that the French call “la crise” struck.

“The crisis means that investors are extremely demanding,” Mr. Bailly said. “They have means, but they’re very attentive to how it’s invested; they want to ensure the safety of their investment.”

Some developers have delayed building in Clichy Batignolles, hoping that the market will improve. No large commercial tenants have yet committed to the project.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: May 22, 2013

Because of an editing error, a summary with an earlier version of this article misstated the size of the Clichy Batignolles project in northwest Paris. It is 133 acres, not 154.

Obama Promotes Ambitious Plan to Overhaul Nation’s Infrastructure

At the end of a week absorbed by social issues like gun control and gay rights, the president returned to the economic challenges he has called his top priorities with a set of proposals to generate money for construction projects.

“What are we waiting for?” Mr. Obama asked, surrounded by massive cranes and cargo containers. “There’s work to be done. There are workers who are ready to do it. Let’s prove to the world that there’s no better place to do business than right here in the United States of America, and let’s get started rebuilding America.”

Expanding on ideas from his first term and this year’s State of the Union address, Mr. Obama proposed a series of tax breaks and loans to stimulate private investment. Among other things, new “America Fast Forward Bonds” would help state and local governments borrow money for projects, while foreign pension and retirement funds would have a tax penalty eliminated so they could invest in infrastructure in the United States on a similar basis as American funds. Grant programs that were part of the president’s stimulus program would be expanded by $4 billion.

Mr. Obama also promoted an infrastructure bank that would use $10 billion in public money to leverage private investment, a concept he has been pushing without success since 2011.

Republicans responded by saying they also wanted to upgrade American roads, bridges and other infrastructure, but only if it could be paid for. SpeakerJohn A. Boehner’s office distributed comments he made last month after Mr. Obama’s State of the Union address.

“It’s easy to go out there and be Santa Claus and talk about all the things you want to give away,” Mr. Boehner said. “But at some point, somebody has to pay the bill.”

Infrastructure has been one of Mr. Obama’s favorite talking points because its appeal often crosses party lines. Both labor unions and corporations favor more spending on airports, highways and the like, and both Republican and Democratic lawmakers are eager for projects in their districts.

Ken Orski, the editor of Innovation NewsBriefs, a transportation newsletter, said the president’s emphasis on private investment was important. “We need more of that kind of involvement, rather than exclusive emphasis on public financing,” he said.

In some ways, expanding private investment in such projects is a return to tradition, said Mr. Orski, a transportation official under PresidentsRichard M. NixonandGerald R. Ford. Going back to the 19th century, canals and toll roads were financed with private money, he noted. But the great flow of government spending during the New Deal and the creation of the Interstate highway system shifted assumptions.

So while some industries like freight rail, telecommunications and aviation have depended largely on private investment, other infrastructure financing has come largely from government sources. Now that sensibility is shifting again, with more private money in the past 20 years.

“Many people feel that the role of private capital in infrastructure has been de-emphasized too much and that more balance should be restored to the equation,” Mr. Orski said.

The latest national report card issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers this month on the state of bridges, roads, power grids, rail networks and other systems showed that the country’s grade had actually risen for the first time — but to a D-plus from a D. The group credited an increase of private investment and spending from Mr. Obama’s stimulus program.

PortMiami is in the midst of $2 billion in improvements, including a tunnel directly linking its facilities with the Interstate highway system. Workers are also dredging to provide access to larger vessels, reconnecting the port with the nation’s rail system, upgrading its cranes and strengthening its bulkheads. Some of the cost has been financed with federal loans.

“The Port of Miami is a tremendous example of how infrastructure investment can lead to economic prosperity,” said Gregory E. DiLoreto, president of the engineers’ society.

On Thursday, Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, chided Mr. Obama during a conference call with reporters for following the lead of states like Florida.

“We’re certainly glad President Obama’s coming to the Port of Miami tomorrow,” Mr. Scott said, “but he’s late to the party on Florida port investments.” He said his administration had fronted part of the federal cost of the PortMiami project when Washington dawdled. “We could not wait for the federal government to come to the table with their share of the project,” he said

Peter Baker reported from Miami, and John Schwartz from New York.