The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

28 January 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  11 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.   read more…

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