

EU-US (TTIP)

In February 2013, US President Barack Obama used his State of the Union address to announce the launch of negotiations towards a comprehensive free trade and investment agreement between the USA and the European Union. The first round of negotiations, held in July that year, represented the realisation of a dream long held by the business lobbyists of the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue, who had pressed for a free trade agreement between the EU and USA since the 1990s. Yet the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) seeks to be more ambitious than any previous trade deal, encompassing a vast range of issue areas in order to reengineer the social and economic landscape on both sides of the Atlantic in favour of capital.
Given that most tariffs between the EU and USA are already at minimal levels, the central focus of the negotiations is the removal of regulatory barriers to trade. This deregulation will contribute 80 per cent of the total corporate gains from TTIP, according to official calculations, yet the ‘barriers’ to be removed include some of the most important rules and standards that safeguard public health, labour rights and the environment. Negotiators are also keen to remove rules that protect local economies and jobs from unfair competition, with potentially devastating consequences. The official assessment undertaken for the European Commission in 2013 calculated that TTIP will lead directly to the loss of at least one million jobs in the EU and USA combined.
Where the negotiations are unable to complete this deregulatory agenda, TTIP seeks to harmonise regulations. Any proposed new regulations in the future could be screened in order to minimise their impact on private sector activity. If national governments do still introduce any new laws or regulations on corporate activity, TTIP will include provisions for an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism to allow foreign investors to sue the host country in their own privileged court system for any resulting loss of future profits.
The EU and USA have seen their global economic importance diminish since the Second World War, so that they now represent around half of world GDP rather than three quarters, as before. In geopolitical terms, TTIP is an attempt to restore the transatlantic alliance in response to the challenge of emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China. Frustrated at no longer being able to impose their will unchallenged in the multilateral forum of the WTO, the EU and USA have identified TTIP as their opportunity to devise together a template for all future trade deals around the world.
The other geopolitical target of TTIP is Russia. The negotiation of increased exports of oil and gas from the USA to Europe is explicitly designed to break the dependence of Central and Eastern European states on energy supplies from Russia, with US negotiators speaking openly of TTIP as the ‘economic NATO’ that will allow Washington to isolate Moscow as it did in the Cold War. Yet TTIP will thereby condemn Europe to decades of dependency on fossil fuels from North America, just when the reality of climate change demands an immediate transition to clean energy sources. Despite its admission that TTIP will lead to millions of tonnes of extra CO2 emissions, the European Commission is still using the negotiations to press for unrestricted access to US energy supplies.
There is now an unprecedented movement of mass opposition against TTIP in Europe. Anti-TTIP platforms have been established in every one of the 28 EU member states, and the self-organised European Citizens’ Initiative against TTIP and CETA raised over 3.3 million signatures in its first year alone. US labour and environmental groups are also raising their voices against TTIP, even if the debate in the USA has been more focused on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) instead. The EU-US trade negotiations are fast becoming a toxic political issue at national and international levels alike, as citizens recognise that the fight over TTIP is a fight for our very future.
Contributed by John Hilary, War on Want (March 2016)
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Articles
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21-Jun-2012 IP Watch US-EU transatlantic trade deal would skip IPRs
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) yesterday released an interim report with the European Union on ways to expand transatlantic trade and investment. But apparently this would not include trying to bridge differences on intellectual property rights. -
21-Jun-2012 Terra España dice Europa y EEUU acuerdan conversar para TLC
El presidente del gobierno español Mariano Rajoy anunció el martes que Europa y Estados Unidos acordaron iniciar conversaciones con miras a la firma de un tratado de libre comercio. -
21-Jun-2012 Reuters EU and US inch toward talks on free trade area
The United States and the European Union on Wednesday inched closer to starting negotiations on a long-desired free trade deal, with the release of a report calling for wide-ranging market opening and mutual acceptance of product standards. -
19-Jun-2012 Bloomberg EU-US free trade deal offers painless stimulus for both
Before the end of the month, US and European Union trade officials will recommend whether to pursue a free-trade agreement. -
5-Jun-2012 Le Moci UE-Etats-Unis: bientôt un pacte commercial
Le commissaire européen au Commerce, Karel de Gucht, espère le lancement des négociations formelles avec Washington dès le début de l’année prochaine. -
17-Feb-2012 Gvt of Sweden Ewa Björling launches initiative for free trade with US
Sweden’s Minister for Trade Ewa Björling is presenting the conclusions of a new report by the Transatlantic Task Force on Trade and Investment. The report proposes how an open market for trade and investments could be created between the EU and the US. -
28-Jan-2012 European leaders float free trade agreement with US as talks on global deal languish
British Prime Minister David Cameron gave his support to the idea of a free trade deal between the European Union and the U.S. on Thursday, suggesting that a trans-Atlantic pact could deliver a much-needed boost to global commerce. -
26-Jan-2012 AP European leaders float free trade agreement with US as talks on global deal languish
British Prime Minister David Cameron backed the idea of a free trade deal between the European Union and the U.S. on Thursday, suggesting that a trans-Atlantic pact could deliver a much-needed boost to global commerce. -
30-Nov-2011 Reuters US, EU mull free trade talks, sign secure trade pact
The United States and European Union agreed Tuesday to reduce red tape related to cargo security and pledged to work toward tearing down tariffs and regulatory barriers between the world’s largest trading partners. -
23-Nov-2011 Business leaders urge US, EU consider trade pact
After President Barack Obama’s commitment this month to a transpacific free trade agreement, business leaders in Europe and United States are asking for a similar initiative across the North Atlantic to spur economic growth and create jobs. -
29-Jan-2010 Helsingin Sanomat Stubb proposes free trade agreement and “marriage council” for EU and USA
Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb has proposed a common free trade zone for the European Union and the United States and a kind of marriage counselling for the two. -
17-Jan-2007 The News German, Russian doubts aired on EU-US trade push
Senior officials from Germany and Russia warned on Wednesday against pursuing any free trade agreement between the European Union and United States which might endanger a broader multilateral deal under the WTO. -
13-Jan-2007 EurActiv MEPs press for a Transatlantic Market by 2015
Influential MEP group urges greater economic and regulatory cooperation between the EU and the US by removing transatlantic barriers to trade and investment. -
21-Sep-2006 EU Observer EU-US free trade agreement mooted in Berlin
Centre-right members of the German government are in favour of closer economic ties between the EU and the US, possibly resulting in a free trade agreement. -
10-Jun-2006 L’Humanité En route vers le nouvel hypermarché transatlantique ?
Le Parlement européen vient de relancer le projet d’une zone de libre-échange entre les États-Unis et l’UE, un alignement sur le modèle anglo-saxon qui menace l’équilibre mondial. -
8-Jun-2006 ePolitix Hague backs EU-US free trade zone
Shadow foreign secretary of the UK William Hague has called for a free trade area to be established between the EU and US. -
16-May-2006 Bellaciao Non à la zone de libre-échange Etats-Unis - UE
Durant la session du 15 au 18 mai, le Parlement Européen se prononcera sur un rapport proposé par la socialiste Erika Mann (Allemagne), qui appelle de ses vœux un « marché transatlantique sans entraves pour 2015. » -
8-Aug-2004 CEO EU-US free trade talks ahead?
The EU-US summit (June 25-26, Dromoland Castle, Ireland) may result in a de facto launch of free trade negotiations between the EU and the US.
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#noTTIP
UK campaign website -
#TTIP #TAFTA Watch
Rebel Mouse on TTIP and TAFTA -
About the EU-US trade and investment deal
Information sharing and coordination to stop the Transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP), set up by Seattle to Brussels Network -
AFL-CIO: US-EU Free Trade Agreement
AFL-CIO website section on the proposed EU-US FTA -
Alliance D19-20
L’alliance D19-20 est une alliance non partisane de citoyen-ennes, d’agriculteurs-trices, de syndicats qui luttent contre les politiques d’austérité. #D1920 -
Business Coalition for Transatlantic Trade
US corporate alliance pushing for an ambitious, comprehensive and high-standard trade and investment agreement between the United States and the European Union. -
Camp No TTIP!
Brussels, 13-17 October 2015. Five Days Fighting TTIP : Meetings, Actions, Blockade -
CEO on TTIP
Corporate Europe Observatory’s analyses and reports on the TTIP negotiations -
Education and TTIP
Dedicated policy page on TTIP and public eduction maintained by the European Association for the Education of Adults -
EPHA news feed on TTIP
European Public Health Alliance news feed on the prospective EU-US Trade Agreement (TTIP) & its potential impact on public health - Subscribe!! -
Erstes TTIP Leak
des deutschsprachigen TTIP Mandats für die Geheimverhandlungen zwischen EU und USA -
EU negotiating texts in TTIP
New web page from the European Commission containing fact sheets and proposed legal text for TTIP -
FOEE: EU-US trade deal
Friends of the Earth Europe’s special web section on TTIP -
Kampaň „špatný vTTIP“
Czech anti-TTIP campaign -
KMU gegen TTIP
German website for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or Mittelstand companies against TTIP -
KMU gegen TTIP
Austrian SMEs against TTIP -
Know TTIP
Together with the US Government and the EU Commission corporation representatives compose a free trade agreement called TTIP in secret negotiations. It’s goal is to crack down trading obstacles. This vague formulation concretely means, that social, health and ecological standards in the EU will be lowered. -
La Quadature du Net: TAFTA documents
Consolidated wiki page on TAFTA -
MORE
MORE, the Movement for Responsibility in Trade Agreements, an association of European SMEs and citizens, was created to ensure that trade agreements such as TTIP serve business and society equitably, and to protect SMEs in Europe and the USA. -
MORE for SMEs than TTIP
MORE, the Movement for Responsibility in Trade Agreements, is an association of European SMEs and citizens created to ensure that trade agreements such as TTIP serve business and society equitably, and to protect SMEs in Europe and the USA. -
Não à Parceria Transatlântica de Comércio e Investimento (TTIP)
Grupo de Portugal para análise crítica ao Acordo UE-EUA (TTIP) -
NO 2 ISDS!
Web tool set up by AK Europa, ÖGB Europabüro and Friends of the Earth Europet to help people take part in the EU consultation — until 6 July 2014 — on investor-state dispute settlement as proposed for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. -
No al TTIP
Campaña contra el Tratado Transatlántico de Comercio e Inversiones -
No Transat!
Après des années de négociations discrètes, l’Union européenne et les Etats-Unis préparent officiellement la mise sur pied d’un Marché transatlantique. L’objectif ? Une plus grande libéralisation des échanges commerciaux et financiers, accompagnée de politiques judiciaires et sécuritaires communes. Date butoir ? 2015… c’est-à-dire demain ! -
Non au Traité Transatlantique
Non au Grand Marché Transatlantique – StopTAFTA – Non au TTIP – Non au TCIP -
O que esconde a parceria transatlântica (TTIP)?
Grupo de Portugal para análise crítica ao Acordo UE-EUA (TTIP) -
Occupy London STOP TTIP working group
STOP TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) working group is working to help inform and engage the public about the serious consequences of the US- EU Free Trade Agreement currently being negotiated in secret -
Pour
POUR est un collectif citoyen qui met à votre disposition des analyses et prises de position d’experts, de philosophes, de sociologues, de juristes, d’économistes, de représentants syndicaux, de cinéastes, d’éditeurs belges et européens sur le Traité transatlantique (TTIP ou TAFTA). -
Stop TAFTA - Non au grand marché transatlantique
Site internet du collectif français Stop TAFTA -
Stop the TTIP: European Citizen’s Initiative
Organisations from all across Europe are currently gearing up for a European Citizens’ Initiative with the aim of repealing the European Union’s negotiating mandate for the Transatlantic Trade Investor Partnership and not concluding the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. -
Stop TTIP Italia
Italy’s Stop TTIP campaign website -
Stop TTIP platform Czech Republic
Platforma STOP TTIP vznikla na začátku roku 2015 s cílem informovat o rizicích obsažených v připravované smlouvě mezi EU a USA. -
Stop TTIP-CETA-TiSA Day of Action 11Oct
Website to support the European Day of Action against TTIP, CETA and TiSA on 11 October 2014. Please join and share! -
Stop TTIP-CETA-TiSA Greece
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Stop TTIP/CETA demo 17 Sep
Website for Germany’s nationwide mass rally in 7 cities on 17 September 2016 against TTIP and CETA -
The consumer view on TTIP
Dedicated blog from BEUC, the European Consumers Organisation -
Transatlantic Business Council
Lobby group representing 70 global companies headquartered in the US and EU, created in 2013 as the result of a merger between TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) and European-American Business Council (EABC). -
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
The European Commission’s TTIP page -
Treat the treaty [FR/EN]
Bande dessinée sur TAFTA. / Comic on TTIP. -
TTIP Demo
Website of the mass mobilisation in Berlin against TTIP and CETA on 10 October 2015 -
TTIP game over
Where civil disobedience and creativity meet to stop TTIP, CETA and all free trade deals (EN, FR, NL) -
TTIP Information Network Ireland
Website of the Irish coalition against TTIP -
TTIP Leaks
Greenpeace Netherlands has released secret EU-US #TTIP negotiations. You should have access to these texts, because democracy needs transparency! TTIP poses a great threat to the environment and food safety. #TTIPleaks -
TTIP or not
TTIPOrNot is an independent citizens’ initiative whose main objective is to encourage everyone to stand up against the TTIP by signing the Stop-TTIP.org petition. -
TTIP Stoppen
Austrian campaign website -
TTIP unfairhandelbar
TTIP - No Thanks! A coalition of German NGOs active in the field of agriculture, environment, development and trade policy was launched to critically monitor the negotiations between the EU Commission and the US government. -
TTIP Updates - The Glyn Moody blogs
Tracking the twists and turns of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and spelling out what it really means -
TTIP-info-verkosto
Finnish TTIP-info network -
TTIP-Netværket
Danish anti-TTIP network -
TTIP: Beware what lies beneath
This site is an initiative of the Green/EFA Group of the European Parliament, a platform for concerned stakeholders to discuss the current state of the negotiations and what they could mean for citizens and democracy on both sides of the Atlantic. -
TTIP: The deal
CORRECT!V is nonprofit investigative newsroom based in Germany and they are investigating TTIP in the public interest. -
Vapaakauppa.fi
Vapaakauppa.fi is a Finnish site focused on free trade issues, especially big free trade agreements, as TTIP, TiSA and CETA. -
Youtube > TTIP
Quick link to videos about TTIP and the people’s fight against it on Youtube