Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership:The biggest trade deal in the world.

EU Commission ^ | vanity

[managusta]

You may never heard of it but "The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a trade agreement that is presently being secretly negotiated between the European Union and the United States.

It aims at removing trade barriers in a wide range of economic sectors to make it easier to buy and sell goods and services between the EU and the US.

On top of cutting tariffs across all sectors, the EU and the US want to tackle barriers behind the customs border – such as differences in technical regulations, standards and approval procedures. These often cost unnecessary time and money for companies who want to sell their products on both markets. For example, when a car is approved as safe in the EU, it has to undergo a new approval procedure in the US even though the safety standards are similar.

The TTIP negotiations will also look at opening both markets for services, investment, and public procurement. They could also shape global rules on trade."

Public Citizen reports that "In the official document outlining the deal, the Obama administration has made clear that an agreement will not primarily target trade, but rather “behind-the-border” policies such as health, environmental,immigration, and financial protections. U.S. and EU corporations seek to roll back or weaken critical safeguards and limit the ability of regulatory agencies to act on behalf of consumers."

The fourth round of talks due in March follow on from the successful third round of negotiations held from 16-20 December 2013 in Washington D.C.

[managusta]

This treaty has far reaching consequences for us,our children,and our grandchildren,however it is being negotiated by an Administration that cannot get a website to function.

[KarlInOhio]

This treaty has far reaching consequences

Is it really a "treaty" or is it merely an "agreement" which has a far lower requirement for passing Congress?

[omega4412]

This treaty has far reaching consequences

A conspiracy to apply all the regulations devised by the Eurocrats to the US.

[Junk Silver]

This is way more important than Obamacare, gun control and out-of-control executive orders. If we allow any UN treaty to trump US law we are done as a sovereign nation.

[SeminoleCounty]

Everyone who supports Free Trade has a friend in Barack Hussein Obama. Free Traders support Obama

And US gets screwed again...no mention of EU removing VAT on US goods...which is a tariff on US goods

Free Trade is not a conservative idea...Obama does not support anything conservative

[CowboyJay]

Free Trade is straight out of the progressive playbook. If we’re going to have truly unfettered trade, I’d rather it be with Europe than Asia. But we’re not going to have “free trade”, we’re going to have trade terms set by our trading “partners” with the aim of further destroying the US middle class.

[agere_contra]

Free Trade is a Conservative idea.

Freedom of Association is a Conservative idea, and Free Trade is merely Freedom of Association applied to whom you choose to trade with.

Obama would love tariffs. Tariffs would give him the ability to choose winners and losers in the domestic marketplace, allowing him to enforce unionization and the rest of his whacked-out agenda

If you handed tariff power to the current administration then your most important competitive act wouldn't be to work better, faster, cheaper - it would be to lobby Obama for interventions that protected your company's business.

The fact that you would willingly impose tariffs on your countrymen says a lot about your crypto-marxist agenda.

It's worth adding that the EU isn't a Free Trade bloc - its a customs union with amazingly restrictive trade rules. Agreeing a trade deal with the EU might actually lead to LESS freedom of trade.