The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

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Leaders of the member states of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership met at the G8 Summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, on June 17, 2013.

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In July 2013, the United States and the European Union began negotiating a trade deal with the goal of encouraging global economic development by reducing regulatory barriers to trade and the cost of exporting goods and services. Negotiators have not produced a final agreement, and there are growing concerns that if a deal cannot be reached before 2017, negotiations will end when changes of administration occur in the U.S., France, and Germany after the upcoming elections.^[1][2][3]

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has been largely overshadowed by the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade deal signed by the U.S. and 11 Asia Pacific countries, but if negotiators reach a deal it "would be the world's biggest bilateral trade and investment deal," according to the European Commission.^[4]

A 2013 study conducted by the Centre for Economic Policy Research found that the deal "could give an economic boost of 120 billion euros ($135 billion) to the EU and 95 billion euros to the United States by 2027."^[5] In addition, a January 2016 study conducted by the World Trade Institute (WTI) of the University of Bern found that "TTIP could improve the trading environment for businesses of all sizes, establish robust provisions in areas such as labour and the environment, and deliver many benefits for consumers."^[6][7]

TTIP outline[edit]

The specific contents of TTIP are not available for the public to view as negotiators continue to work on a final deal. The Office of the United States Trade Representative released the TTIP "Fact Sheet", which explains the basic goals of TTIP.^[2]

Disagreements[edit]

Negotiators have been unable to produce a final trade agreement because of disagreements on a variety of issues, including different testing and safety regulations on food, drugs, cosmetics, and automobiles, among others things. Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), said, “We are still having negotiations on rudimentary issues like agriculture or services, which are normally solved after four or five rounds.”^[3]

Another major barrier to reaching an agreement has been how to handle the investor-state dispute settlement system (ISDS). In September 2015, “Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström proposed a new dispute settlement court, with 15 independent judges with transparent procedures. This court would also have an appellate mechanism of six judges, with the same criteria. The internationally qualified judges would be appointed publicly by the U.S., the EU and a third country,” according to Politico. Critics of the proposal “say it is an opening for corporations to sue governments over policies they dislike.”^[9]

Negotiation timeline[edit]

Negotiators from the European Union and the United States have met for 14 rounds of talks, but they have yet to produce a final trade agreement.^[10] Supporters of TTIP worry that a deal will not be completed if negotiators fail to produce a final trade agreement to send to Congress before the next president takes office. John Emerson, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, said, “If you really want this, it needs to be completed during this (U.S.) presidency. ... The other issue is, it isn’t just the American election.… You get into the French elections and then the German election. Those push the process out.”^[3]

• Round one: July, 7-12, 2013, in Washington D.C.
• Round two: November 11-15, 2013, in Brussels, Belgium
• Round three: December 16-21, 2013, in Washington D.C.
• Round four: March 10-14, 2014, in Brussels, Belgium
• Round five: May 19-23, 2014, in Arlington, Virginia
• Round six: July 13-18, 2014, in Brussels, Belgium
• Round seven: September 29 - October 3, 2014, in Chevy Chase, Maryland
• Round eight: February 2-6, 2015, in Brussels, Belgium
• Round nine: April 20-24, 2015, in New York, New York
• Round ten: July 13-17, 2015, in Brussels, Belgium
• Round eleven: October 19-23, 2015, in Miami, Florida
• Round twelve: February 22-26, 2016, in Brussels, Belgium
• Round thirteen: April 25-29, 2016, in New York, New York
• Round fourteen: July 11-15, 2016, in Brussels, Belgium

Opposition[edit]

In July 2014, TTIP protestors marched from the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills to Europe House, the London Headquarters of the European Commission and the European Parliament, in Smith Square, London.

Opponents of TTIP worry that the deal will "lead to lower standards of consumer and environmental protection and safety at work," "give business groups a disproportionate influence over new regulation," and result in job losses for workers. Some opponents also think that the ISDS system will "discourage governments from regulating in the public interest."^[11] Numerous protests and demonstrations have been organized for opponents to voice their opinions about the harm they say the trade deal will do to the economy, the environment, and health and safety standards.^[12][13]

On February 22, 2016, Greenpeace activists protested TTIP negotiations in Brussels. According to Greenpeace.org, "Thirty activists from seven countries chained themselves at the entrances of a conference centre where the meeting was due to take place. Some activists climbed the front of the building to deploy a large banner depicting a ‘dead-end’ road sign that read: 'TTIP: dead end trade deal.'"^[13]

Greenpeace TTIP campaigner Susan Jehoram Cohen commented on the trade deal, saying, “This trade deal is not about trade. It’s about the transfer of power from people to big business. What the Commission calls barriers to trade are in fact the safeguards that keep toxic pesticides out of our food or dangerous pollutants out of the air we breathe. The negotiators who were supposed to meet in secret today want to weaken these safeguards to maximise corporate profits, whatever the costs for society and the environment. It’s our responsibility to expose them and give a voice to the millions who oppose this trade deal.”^[13]

On April 23, 2016, the day before President Barack Obama met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to sell TTIP, "35,000 people demonstrated in the streets against his trade proposal." According to The Washington Times, "There is fierce opposition to TTIP in Germany — Europe’s largest economy and most important political voice — saying the pact would erode consumer and environmental protections for more than 800 million people."^[14]

Public opinion[edit]

Although the issue of whether international trade agreements help or harm American workers has been a focus of the 2016 presidential candidates, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal has been absent from that conversation. The lack of engagement from the presidential candidates reflects the attitudes of Americans about the deal. According to a February 2016 Bertelsmann Stiftung/ YouGov poll, public interest in TTIP is low, and the percentage of people actively taking part in the TTIP conversation is even lower. The poll also revealed that 46 percent of Americans haven't heard enough about the deal to know if it is good or bad for the country.^[15]

Recent news[edit]

This section links to a Google news search for the term The + Transatlantic + Trade + and + Investment + Partnership

See also[edit]

• The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal: An overview
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal: Legislation
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal: Public opinion on TPP and T-TIP
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal: Summary of the TPP
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal: Human trafficking concerns
• 2016 presidential candidates on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal: Opposition
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal: Understanding trade terminology
• Currency manipulation
• Trade promotion authority (TPA)
• Trade adjustment assistance (TAA)
• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
• Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS)
• Michael Froman

External links[edit]

• Office of the United States Trade Representative, "Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP)"
• Office of the United States Trade Representative, "Outlines of TPP"

Footnotes[edit]

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