The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

Wednesday, 28 January 2015 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, European Union
Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Datastat/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Datastat/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (USA). Proponents say the agreement would result in multilateral economic growth. The American government considers the TTIP a companion agreement to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. After a proposed draft was leaked in March 2014, the European Commission launched a public consultation on a limited set of clauses. The US and European Union together represent 60% of global GDP, 33% of world trade in goods and 42% of world trade in services. Negotiations are held in week-long cycles alternating between Brussels and Washington. The negotiators hope to conclude their work in 2015. The 28 governments will then have to approve or reject the negotiated agreement in the EU Council of Ministers, at which point the European Parliament will also be asked for its endorsement. The EU Parliament is empowered to approve or reject the agreement. The TTIP Agreement texts are being developed by 24 joint EU-US working groups, each considering a separate aspect of the agreement.

Economic barriers between the EU and the US are relatively low, not only due to long-standing membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) but recent agreements such as the EU–US Open Skies Agreement and work by the Transatlantic Economic Council. The European Commission claims that passage of a trans-Atlantic trade pact could boost overall trade between the respective blocs by as much as 50%. However, economic relations are tense and there are frequent trade disputes between the two economies, many of which end up before the World Trade Organization. Economic gains of TTIP were predicted in the joint report issued by the White House and the European Commission. Some form of Transatlantic Free Trade Area had been proposed in the 1990s and later in 2006 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in reaction to the collapse of the Doha world trade talks. However, protectionism on both sides may be a barrier to any future agreement. It was first initiated in 1990, when, shortly after the end of the Cold War, with the world no longer divided into two blocs, the European Community (12 countries) and the US signed a “Transatlantic Declaration.” This called for the continued existence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as well as for yearly summits, biennial meetings between ministers of State, and more frequent encounters between political figures and senior officials. Subsequent initiatives taken by the European deciders and the US government included: in 1995, the creation of a pressure group of business people, the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) by public authorities on both sides of the Atlantic; in 1998, the creation of an advisory committee, the Transatlantic Economic Partnership; in 2007, the creation of the Transatlantic Economic Council, in which representatives from firms operating on both sides of the Atlantic meet to advise the European Commission and the US government – and finally, in 2011, the creation of a group of high-level experts whose conclusions, submitted on February 11, 2013, recommended the launching of negotiations for a wide-ranging free-trade agreement. On February 12, 2013, President Barack Obama called in his annual State of the Union address for such an agreement. The following day, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso announced that talks would take place to negotiate the agreement.

EU map © Alexrk2/cc-by-sa-3.0 USA map © Lencer/cc-by-sa-3.0 © Datastat/cc-by-sa-3.0
<
>
EU map © Alexrk2/cc-by-sa-3.0
TTIP aims for a formal agreement that shall “liberalise one-third of global trade,” which they argue will create millions of new paid jobs. “With tariffs between the United States and the EU already low, the United Kingdom’s Centre for Economic Policy Research estimates that 80 percent of the potential economic gains from the TTIP agreement depend on reducing the conflicts of duplication between EU and US rules on those and other regulatory issues, ranging from food safety to automobile parts.” A successful strategy (according to Thomas Bollyky at the Council on Foreign Relations and Anu Bradford of Columbia Law School) will focus on business sectors for which transatlantic trade laws and local regulations can often overlap, e.g.: pharmaceutical, agricultural, and financial trading. This will ensure that the United States and Europe remain “standard makers, rather than standard takers,” in the global economy, subsequently ensuring that producers worldwide continue to gravitate toward joint US-EU standards.

A March 2013 economic assessment by the European Centre for Economic Policy Research estimates that such a comprehensive agreement would result in annual GDP growth of 68-119 billion euros by 2027 and annual GDP growth of 50-95 billion euros in the US in the same time frame. The 2013 report also estimates that a limited agreement focused only on tariffs would yield annual EU GDP growth of 24 billion euros by 2027 and annual growth of 9 billion euros in the US. If shared equally among the affected people, the most optimistic GDP growth estimates would translate into “additional annual disposable income for a family of four” of “545 euros in the EU” and “655 euros in the US,” respectively. In a Wall Street Journal article, the CEO of Siemens GmBH (with its workforce located 70% in Europe and 30% in the US) claimed that the TTIP would strengthen US and EU global competitiveness by reducing trade barriers, by improving intellectual property protections, and by establishing new international “rules of the road.” The European Commission says that the TTIP would boost the EU’s economy by €120 billion, the US economy by €90 billion and the rest of the world by €100 billion.

One of the first official acts of the thankfully fired after only one term in office, several times impeached, obviously with the help of the Russian Tsar Vladimir Putin appointed and led and not only for this reason the worst US President of all time, Donald Trump, was to put TTIP on hold. After Joe Biden was sworn in as US President as a result of an outstanding election success, the chances of resumption of negotiations are good (Transatlantic relations).

Read more on European Commission – EU trade relations with the United States. Facts, figures and latest developments., United States Trade Representative – Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) and Wikipedia Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Johns Hopkins University & Medicine - Coronavirus Resource Center - Global Passport Power Rank - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.


Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

We wish you a peaceful Advent season, Merry Christmas and a great start into a happy, amazing, healthy, awesome and successful New Year! 🕯 🎅 ✨ 🎄 🎁 🍾 🎆

We wish you a peaceful Advent season, Merry Christmas and a great start into a happy, amazing, healthy, awesome and successful New Year! 🕯 🎅 ✨ 🎄 🎁 🍾 🎆

[caption id="attachment_224634" align="aligncenter" width="590"]Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah on Pariser Platz in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin © Leonhard Lenz[/caption] Read more on Wikipedia Twelve Days of Christmas, Wikipedia Saturnalia, Wikipedia Advent and Wikipedia Christmas. For those who don't like Christmas, but still want to get through the time well and relaxed: makemeacocktail.com: Dirty Vicar!....

[ read more ]

House for Mozart in Salzburg

House for Mozart in Salzburg

[caption id="attachment_234113" align="aligncenter" width="590"] The stage © Martin Kraft/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Haus für Mozart, or House for Mozart, is a 1,500-seat theatre of the Salzburg Festival in the city of that name in Austria. It was established in 1925 when horse stables were converted into a venue for the mystery plays that were a main facet of the five-year-old festival, becoming the festival's first dedicated performance space, its Festspielhaus. This name it retained through three rebuildings...

[ read more ]

Altötting, the heart of Bavaria

Altötting, the heart of Bavaria

[caption id="attachment_151356" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Shrine of Europe © Bene16 / Quibik[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Altötting is a town in Bavaria, capital of the district Altötting. This small town is famous for the Gnadenkapelle (Chapel of Grace), one of the most-visited shrines in Germany. This is a tiny octagonal chapel which keeps a venerated statue of the Virgin Mary. According to the legend, in 1489, a 3-year-old local boy who had drowned in the river was revived when his grieving mother placed him in front o...

[ read more ]

Chiavenna in der Lombardy

Chiavenna in der Lombardy

[caption id="attachment_153863" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Chiavenna © Rodolph de Salis/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Chiavenna is a city (municipality) in the Province of Sondrio in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Milan and about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Sondrio. It has a population of 7,300. The municipality of Chiavenna contains the frazioni (subdivisions, mainly villages and hamlets) Campedello, Loreto, Pianazzola, and San Carlo. Chiavenna borders t...

[ read more ]

Palma Cathedral

Palma Cathedral

[caption id="attachment_236309" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Interior © José Luis Filpo Cabana/cc-by-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma (Cathedral of St. Mary of Palma), more commonly referred to as La Seu (a title also used by many other churches), is a Gothic Roman Catholic cathedral located in Palma, Mallorca, Spain. Built by the Crown of Aragón on the site of a Moorish-era mosque, the cathedral is 121 metres long, 40 metres wide and its nave is 44 metres tall. By way of compari...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Madrid

Theme Week Madrid

[caption id="attachment_159757" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Plaza Mayor © Sebastian Dubiel[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million (as of December 2009); the entire population of the metropolitan area (urban area and suburbs) is calculated to be nearly 6.5 million. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous in the European Union after Paris ...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Ulster - Omagh

Theme Week Ulster - Omagh

[caption id="attachment_153146" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Ardfern/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Omagh (Irish: an Ómaigh, meaning "the virgin plain") is the county town of County Tyrone. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. The district, which is the largest in the county, has a population of 51,000. Omagh also contains the headquarters of Omagh District Council and the Western Education and Library Board. Omagh is the main retail centre for Tyrone, as well as the West ...

[ read more ]

Bergen in the Lüneburg Heath

Bergen in the Lüneburg Heath

[caption id="attachment_160991" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Römstedthaus - Local History Museum © Hajotthu/cc-by-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Bergen is a town located between Soltau and Celle on the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony. Administratively it acts as a municipal borough divided into 12 subordinate parishes based on the town and its surrounding villages. The town has 13,100 inhabitants. Members of the British military and their families, who were not included in the census, bring the actual population to about 17...

[ read more ]

Koenigssee in southeast Bavaria: Holidays in a real-existing postcard

Koenigssee in southeast Bavaria: Holidays in a real-existing postcard

[caption id="attachment_151823" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Boathouses and Villa Beust at dusk © Bobak Ha'Eri/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Königssee is a natural lake in the extreme southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the border to Austria. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park. Situated within the Berchtesgaden Alps in the municipality of Schönau am Königsee, just south of Berchtesgaden and the Austrian city of Salzburg, the Königssee ...

[ read more ]

Kerch on Crimea

Kerch on Crimea

[caption id="attachment_154234" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Main Street © KBDA3200/cc-by-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Kerch is a city on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of the Crimea in Ukraine. Founded 2,600 years ago as an ancient Greek colony, Kerch is considered to be one of the most ancient cities in Ukraine. The city experienced rapid growth starting in the 1920s and was the site of a major battle during World War II. Today, it is one of the largest cities in Crimea and is among the country's most important industri...

[ read more ]

Passage Jouffroy in Paris

Passage Jouffroy in Paris

[caption id="attachment_209706" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Ali Sabbagh[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Passage Jouffroy is a covered passages of Paris located in the 9th arrondissement. It runs between the Boulevard Montmartre to the south and the Rue de la Grange-Batelière to the north. The Passage Jouffroy is a covered walkway in the south of the 9th arrondissement of Paris, on the border with the 2nd arrondissement. It begins in the south between 10 and 12 boulevard Montmartre, and ends in the north at 9 rue de la Gra...

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top
Foodstore © Acp/cc-by-sa-3.0
Mustique, the island of the Grenadines

Mustique is a small private island that is part of St Vincent and the Grenadines. The island is one of...

© Ardfern/cc-by-sa-3.0
Theme Week Ulster – Omagh

Omagh (Irish: an Ómaigh, meaning "the virgin plain") is the county town of County Tyrone. It is situated where the...

Plaza de España © Ecelan/cc-by-sa-4.0
Theme Week La Rioja – Santo Domingo de la Calzada

Santo Domingo de la Calzada is situated on the banks of the Oja River. Its name refers to its founder,...

Schließen