US foreign secretary John Kerry has called for tensions over the NSA scandal to be set aside before next week's planned trade talks between the United States and the European Union.

From November 11<sup>th the US and EU are set to work on what will be the world's biggest free-trade deal. But such talks are currently clouded by the global diplomatic crisis the US is facing over the NSA scandal, in which the country's National Security Agency was accused by several sources of monitoring the mobile phones of several senior officials around the world, including German chancellor Angela Merkel. European government have demanded an explanation from Washington for these spying allegations.

During a visit to Poland Kerry highlighted the importance of the trade deal, whilst saying the US is willing to listen with regards to other nations concerns over spying.

Together, that can have a profound positive impact for our people, it will put millions of people to work, create new jobs, more opportunities and it's worth pushing for."

"Now that should not be confused with whatever legitimate questions exist with respect to NSA or other activities. And as I have said previously, we want to hear from our allies, we want to have this conversation.

Kerry met with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski to discuss economic cooperation, environmental issues and plans for deploying a missile defence system in the country.

Written and presented by Alfred Joyner