Creative thinking is needed to make progress in TTIP, business groups say. The Business Alliance for TTIP, which includes the European Small Business Alliance, the European Round Table, the European Services Forum, Business Europe, the Trans-Atlantic Business Council, Eurocommerce, Eurochambres and AmChamEU, is calling for tangible progress in TTIP …
North America
Exclusive: Gardner – possible to have “main building blocks” of TTIP by end 2016
In brief: US Ambassador to the EU Anthony Gardner believes the main building blocks of TTIP can be negotiated by end 2016, though he admits agreement on procurement and geographical indications still far off. Asked by Borderlex whether he thought it realistic for the EU and US to conclude …
TTIP Round 14 held under the shadow of Brexit, leaving out services
The EU and the US are holding a fourteenth round of TTIP negotiations. Few expect significant breakthroughs in the now three-year-old talks. Negotiations are deadlocked over bread-and-butter market access issues in agriculture, services, and procurement. Fundamental disagreements persist on rules on investment or on intellectual property rights (geographical indications). The UK’s …
CETA: Commission caves in to member state political pressure, declares deal is ‘mixed’
The Commission’s intentions to declare CETA an EU-only agreement, loudly announced last week by President Jean-Claude Juncker, have backfired. Amidst a pushback from powerful member states, including France and Germany, the Commission has decided to declare CETA “mixed” and prioritised its coming into force provisionally as early as possible. …
CETA ratification saga: EPP endorses Commission view – France ready to block
The CETA ratification saga continues unfolding. There’s been a stir since Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced on Wednesday that the Commission would put the Canada EU trade deal CETA to the member states next week with the suggestion that it is a deal that falls under the exclusive competence of …
Berlin consternation in face of CETA national parliament bypass push
EU Commission President Juncker weighed in: the Commission sees CETA, the trade deal with Canada, as falling under “exclusive” EU competence and thus not requiring ratification by national parliaments. This is causing consternation in Berlin, though there are differences in point of view between Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party and …
Brexit: Commission in drive to stick to business as usual on trade agreements
The Commission has vowed to stick to its current trade policy plans despite the challenge to its unity and to its resources posed by the pending withdrawal of Britain from the EU. In a defiant statement on Monday, trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström responded to questions about whether the United …
Chances of TTIP conclusion this year waning as France pulls brakes
The outcome of the United Kingdom referendum of 23 June 2016 on its relationship with the EU is clear: priority is now to sort out the situation, and not finalising the flagship transatlantic trade deal TTIP currently under negotiations on both sides of the Atlantic. Brexit also means the French are ready …
Green taxes, colour-blind trade rules
It’s not TTIP that will constrain our environmental rule-making. The WTO does that already. By Hosuk Lee Makiyama. Trade rules and environmental protection have always been uneasy bedfellows. And like much of the broader trade debate in Europe these days, TTIP is the …
TTIP: rules of origin – EU textiles worry about potential changes to “list rules”
One of the most complex issues to resolve in the TTIP negotiations is what type of rules to apply for products to qualify for duty-free treatment – the so-called rules or origin (ROOs) – under the deal. EU and US free trade agreements use quite different ROO systems in their …
