European Union and United States to hold second round of trade negotiations in Brussels

(BMLTV) November 7, 2013 - The EU and the US today announced they will hold a second round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks in Brussels from Monday 11th – Friday 15th November 2013. 

The week-long round of negotiations replaces the talks originally scheduled for 7th-11th October but which were postponed due to the shutdown of the US government. This round of negotiations will now put the TTIP discussion process fully back on track in terms of the planned negotiation timeline.

The teams of negotiators from either side of the Atlantic are expected to discuss services, investment, energy and raw materials, and regulatory issues. The negotiations’ session on public procurement had taken place before the shutdown.

The talks in Brussels will be followed by a third round of negotiations to be held in Washington DC the week of the 16th December.

The aim of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is to liberalise trade and investment between the EU and the US. It is expected to result in more jobs and growth and assist Europe in its long-term recovery from the economic crisis.

The EU and the US make up 40% of global economic output and their bilateral economic relationship is already the world’s largest. An independent study by the Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, forecasts that an ambitious and comprehensive deal could see the EU gaining €119 billion a year once fully implemented.

 EU exports to the US could rise by 28%, earning exporters of goods and services an extra €187 billion annually. Consumers will benefit too with an average family of four living in the EU being €545 better off every year.

The European Union and the United States have their eyes on more than just removing tariffs. Tariffs between them are already low (on average only 4%) so the main hurdles to trade lie ‘behind the border’ in regulations, non-tariff barriers and red tape. Estimates indicate that 80% of the overall potential wealth gains of a trade deal will come from cutting costs imposed by bureaucracy and regulation, as well as from liberalising trade in services and public procurement.

Improving regulatory cooperation will aim at creating similar regulations on both sides of the Atlantic rather than having to try to adapt them at a later stage. The goal is to build a more integrated transatlantic marketplace, while respecting each side’s right to regulate in a way that ensures the protection of health, safety and the environment at a level it considers appropriate.

Both sides hope that by aligning their domestic standards, they will be able to set the benchmark for developing global rules. Such a move would be clearly beneficial to both EU and US exporters, but it would also strengthen the multilateral trading system.

The second round of talks follows on from the successful negotiations held from 8-12 July

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