US President Barack Obama and Italian President Sergio Mattarella publicly urged for finalising a major trade and investment pact between the United States and the European Union, just weeks before the trading giants are set to hold their first negotiating round of the New Year. “We agreed that joint and common action between the United States and Italy not only serves the interest of both our countries, but the broader transatlantic relationship that has underwritten so much peace and prosperity over the last several decades,” said Obama following the bilateral meeting in Washington on Monday, citing the conclusion of trade talks as one way to boost such a relationship. The Italian President, for his part, similarly stressed the two sides’ past history of trans-Atlantic cooperation, adding that the economic and trade partnership in this respect “is a very important approach because it can help us to avoid in the future additional, new economic and financial crises.” Such crises, Mattarella warned, could in turn be devastating for some of the economic advances seen in developing countries, to the point whether these could “perhaps ward off or prevent any prosperity from being achieved in developing nations.” WH official: deal unlikely before end...