Will TTIP be an ‘economic NATO’? – POLITICO

Paul Ames

9/17/15, 4:28 PM CET

Updated 9/17/15, 4:30 PM CET

Back in 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed a proposed transatlantic free trade pact as a job-creating, growth-boosting “economic NATO” that would forge new ties between old allies.

Three years later, hopeful presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appears less enthusiastic.

“Can you make it go away?” was the only-half-joking response of her campaign chairman, John Podesta, to a recent question on the trade deal now being negotiated between the United States and European Union.

Cooling ardor on both sides of the Atlantic threatens the very existence of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which was launched in a series of promising talks between Brussels and Washington in 2013.

Since then, TTIP has lost some of its shine, as the trade talks attracted unprecedented levels of public opposition.

Over 2.6 million people across Europe have signed a petition to stop TTIP and a smaller EU deal with Canada.

Concern over the impact of TTIP has united disparate groups — from French farmers to German constitutional lawyers and politicians on the left and right.

“TTIP represents a monumental power grab by corporations and it must be stopped in its tracks,” Keith Taylor, a British Green Party legislator told a recent European Parliament debate.

In the U.S., TTIP has been overshadowed by its Pacific counterpart, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Skeptics, who fear the impact of both deals on American jobs, include progressive Democrats, Tea Party protectionists and labor unions.

It’s perhaps unsurprising the world’s biggest trade negotiation should trigger such a king-sized reaction.

TTIP covers around a third of global trade. It would create an open market of 829 million consumers and expand a trade relationship that’s already worth €2 billion every day.

Supporters say an agreement would make a yearly €300 billion-plus contribution to the world economy, create hundreds of thousands of export-based jobs and make the average European family €500-a-year richer.

EU officials also promote the geo-political benefits, saying free trade could inject new life into the Atlantic alliance and set benchmarks that China and other emerging powers would find hard to ignore in future trade deals.

And the energy Russia’s international propaganda machine devotes to denouncing TTIP would suggest the Kremlin is worried by its potential to strengthen transatlantic ties.

Unlike traditional free trade treaties, TTIP is not primarily about cutting the tariffs and duties each side charges on imports from the other. They’re already low — averaging just 3 percent on goods traded across the Atlantic.

Instead, TTIP is focused on removing “non-tariff barriers” — harmonizing standards, cutting red tape and boosting safeguards for investors.

Supporters say that will make it easier and cheaper for exporters, who’ll no longer have to adapt to two sets of rules.

Not everybody’s convinced. Opponents’ long list of concerns range from the potential to erode public services and weaken environmental protection, to threats against cherished local food products.

American unions fear jobs could migrate to cheaper locations in eastern Europe. Consumer groups worry kids could be endangered by toys falling short of rigorous U.S. safety standards.

Many Europeans view with distaste the prospect of lower food quality controls forcing genetically modified grains, hormone-fed beef, chickens doused in chemicals and other American delicacies onto their dinner tables.

Campaigners on both sides of the pond fret that TTIP will empower multinational companies at the expense of parliaments and citizens, particularly through so-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses that enable corporations to challenge national laws in secretive arbitration courts.

U.S. and EU negotiators insist the fears are unfounded and that both sides’ standards will be respected. The European Commission this week presented revised proposals for investor protection rules which it insisted would be “transparent, fair and based on democratic principles.”

In public at least, both sides are hopeful a deal can be clinched before the Obama administration ends in January 2017.

In private, U.S. and EU officials are more guarded about the outcome as the battle over TTIP rages on.

TTIP VOX POP

“I’m in favor of TTIP, but I’m not in favor of giving up European standards, European principles.”

— Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president

“The secrecy of the TTIP casts a shadow on the future of European democracy.”

— Julian Assange,WikiLeaks founder

“ISDS is now the most toxic acronym in Europe.”

— Cecilia Malmström, European commissioner for trade

“A clear signal of our resolve, to dismantle all trade barriers, and it would also provide important impetus for the development of the world economy,”

— Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor 

“One of the greatest opportunities we have to turbocharge the global economy … a deal that could be worth up to £10 billion pounds a year for Britain alone. It would help to secure our long-term economic success and generate a better future for hardworking families back at home.”

— David Cameron, British prime minister

“This treaty is a bomb. Our high quality agriculture in Europe would disappear if our small farmers were exposed to competition with the American agro-industry … it would be another mortal [blow] for democracy.”

— Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s National Front

“TTIP — Part of Grand U.S. Plan to Isolate Russia From Europe.”

— Headline in Russian news site Sputnik

“Can you make it go away?”

— John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman

“TTIP represents a land of opportunity for businesses.”

— David Caro, president of the European Small Business Alliance

“America and Europe have done extraordinary things together before.  And I believe we can forge an economic alliance as strong as our diplomatic and security alliances.”

— Barack Obama, U.S. President

“TTIP represents a corporate power grab on a scale and depth never before imagined.”

— Vivienne Westwood, British fashion designer and member of Artists Against TTIP

“We can look at these trade bills over the years. Every one of them without exception causes American workers job losses. Millions of job losses. But yet they’re going to try the same thing again and hope for a different result. That’s insanity.”

— Harry Reid, Democratic Party leader in the U.S. Senate

“If both of us make up our minds that this will be a standard that the rest of the world has to meet, then we’ve done some good for everybody, including the workers.”

— Richard Trumka, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)