His boss in the VDL Commission said she wanted a trade agreement with the UK before the end of 2020. Cecilia Malmström became the new Commissioner for Trade in late 2014. The mission letter for her new post mentioned the successful conclusion of the controversial trade negotiations with the USA, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), as one of her key duties, but with a number of restrictions and confinements to the negotiation mandate to address European public concerns over TTIP. The confinements were the result of the hearing in the European parliament a few weeks before, where she had to face some tough questions over the TTIP negotiations. She tried to revive the negotiations with the USA two weeks after entering office. Karel De Gucht was appointed Commissioner for Trade in 2010. De Gucht's statements to the European Parliament ahead of becoming Trade Commissioner were met with dismay by Trade Justice campaigners who claimed 'responses at his three-hour hearing revealed his corporate sympathies and gave little indication that the change of personnel at the European Trade Commission will lead to any change in the direction of European trade policy.' De Gucht criticised China for undervaluing the renminbi and the US for protectionism and incoherence over the Doha round. This further came after EADS pulled out of a US defence contract bid, that it had previously won before it was reopened, claiming the tender process was biased against them. During his five-year term as the Commissioner for Trade, De Gucht achieved important trade agreements, among others, with South Korea (2011), Colombia and Peru (2013), Central America, Singapore, Georgia, Moldavia and Ukraine (2014). The comprehensive trade agreement with Ukraine was a direct cause of the upheavals in Independence Square and the 2013–14 Ukrainian Crisis. In October 2014 he concluded CETA, the free trade agreement with Canada and the first ever agreement with a G7 member. He also concluded landmark economic partnership agreements with West Africa (ECOWAS), South Africa (SADC) and Eastern Africa (EAC), covering together 75% of African economy. The signature of the trade agreement with the EAC, consisting of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, was his ultimate duty, done in Nairobi on 31. October 2014, his last day in office as the European Commissioner of Trade. He left office while several trade negotiations were still ongoing. He oversaw the start of trade negotiations with Japan and Vietnam, resumed talks with Mercosur and began investment agreement negotiations with China.