US piles on pressure in trade talks with EU

[webfact]

US piles on pressure in trade talks with EU



BRUSSELS: -- The US has been putting pressure on the European Union to scrap or change environmental and health legislation in trade talks according to leaked documents.

German media outlets are already quoting parts of some 240 pages of internal negotiations which Greenpeace will publish in full today.

The group claims it could mean EU approval being given for genetically modified foods with US demanding that all its producers of GM food have automatic access to the regulatory procedures of the EU.

Stefan Krug, Greenpeace Germany:

“We will publish these papers, because the entire negotiations on the TTIP are nontransparent in a really scandalous manner. They are not negotiating on any company trade secrets, but on environmental and consumer protection, as well as labour rights of more than half a billion people in Europe.”

Opposition to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has already been growing. The leaked papers are said to show what the US negotiators are demanding of the EU, and what the European Commission is being asked to sacrifice in order to seal the deal.

The documents however, are also said to reveal that the two sides have reached an impasse over “irreconcilable differences” which are casting doubts of the deal.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-05-02

[shirtless]

If its so good why are people rejecting it, sounds like another win for the US , while we all get screwed and not in a good way.

[Acharn]

If its so good why are people rejecting it, sounds like another win for the US , while we all get screwed and not in a good way.

The real question is, if it's so good why is it so secret? You know, the text of the TPP still isn't available, even though it's required by law (the "fast track" legislation that supposedly binds Congress to giving it a yes or no vote with no amendments allowed). I wish we could force Hillary to come out strongly against it, but many progressives are sure that the day after the election, win or lose, she's going to start aggressively pushing it. It sounds like many people in Germany including their trade association of SME's are against it.

[lungmi]

It's good for the automobile companies - no more import sale tax. For the UK after a Brexit only applicably for german companies (Rolls-Royce, Austin)

It' bad for health and environment. Free Trade for pesticides, genetic modified food etc.

Courts to control disputes under US supervision.

[sanukjim]

Being the "Big Dog" in a trade deal America talks and The EU listens.Or The EU could just go to China and try to get a deal with them.

[Jonmarleesco]

The TTIP would almost certainly benefit the U.S. much more than Europe, so the obvious - and therefore the least likely - response from the EU should be to tell the U.S. to forget any environmental tinkering simply to suit their agenda, or forget the TTIP.

[johna]

It isn't about trade, its about deregulation, i.e. allowing multinationals to ignore he EU on health and safety, genetically modified crops, etc, it will also allow US companies to get their foot in the door of the NHS.

US companies are already talking about suing the Brit government on lost revenue if they introduce a sugar tax on soft drinks.

[nontabury]

And some are wondering,why more and more Brits are wanting out of the corrupt EU. The TTIP will be the end of the NHS.

[craigt3365]

I've not researched this much, but seems to make sense. Get rid of overlapping, contradictory and duplicate regulations and open the markets up. Not sue how it will hurt the NHS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_Trade_and_Investment_Partnership

TTIP aims for a formal agreement that would "liberalise one-third of global trade" and, proponents argue, will create millions of new paid jobs.^[10] "With tariffs between the United States and the EU already low, the London-based 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."^[10] 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.^[10] 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.^[10]

A March 2013 economic assessment by the European Centre for Economic Policy Research estimates that such a comprehensive agreement would result in GDP growth of 68-119 billion euros in the EU by 2027 and GDP growth of 50-95 billion euros in the United States in the same time frame. The 2013 report also estimates that a limited agreement focused only on tariffs would yield EU GDP growth of 24 billion euros by 2027 and growth of 9 billion euros in the United States. 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.^[67]

In a Wall Street Journal article, the CEO of Siemens AG (with its workforce located 70% in Europe and 30% in the United States) claimed that the TTIP would strengthen United States and EU global competitiveness by reducing trade barriers, by improving intellectual property protections, and by establishing new international "rules of the road".^[68]

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.^[9] Talks began in July 2013 and reached the third round of negotiations by the end of that year.^[9]

[Usernames]

Europeans finally getting on board with Trump in rejecting bad free trade deals.