The lack of agreement between the US and Europe on a controversial trade agreement is unsurprising, Dutch trade minister Lilian Ploumen said on Monday.

The minister was commenting on the leak of confidential negotiating documents relating to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership which have been published by environmental group Greenpeace.

‘It is no surprise that the EU and US are far apart on this,’ the minister is quoted as saying by the Financieele Dagblad. ‘Otherwise we would not be negotiating.’

Greenpeace says the documents show EU standards on the environment and public health risk being undermined.

‘These documents make clear the scale and scope of the trade citizens of the United States and the European Union are being asked to make in pursuit of corporate profits. It is time for the negotiations to stop, and the debate to begin,’ Sylvia Borren, the director of Greenpeace Netherlands said in a statement.

Ploumen said the Netherlands will only sign the agreement if it respects the position of the Dutch government. ‘And we can only judge that once the negotiations have been completed,’ she said.