[CTC] Trans-Atlantic Business Groups Warn Against TTIP Light Ahead Of Round, Obama Meetings

[Arthur Stamoulis]

INSIDE US TRADE
Trans-Atlantic Business Groups Warn Against TTIP Light Ahead Of Round, Obama Meetings

April 21, 2016 
In a joint statement <https://insidetrade.com/sites/insidetrade.com/files/documents/apr2016/wto2016_1027a.pdf>, eight business groups from both sides of the Atlantic on Thursday (April 21) urged negotiators to pursue an ambitious and comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and refrain from sacrificing substance for the speed of making a deal this year.

“The long-term success of TTIP will ultimately depend on how far-reaching an agreement EU and U.S. leaders are willing to negotiate,” members of the Business Alliance for TTIP said. “Now is a critical time for negotiators to redouble their efforts and confront head-on the key issues that are essential to its success.”

Tim Bennett, the Director-General and CEO of the Trans-Atlantic Business Council (TABC) who signed the statement, said neither the administration nor the European Commission has an interest in negotiating a so-called “TTIP light,” and the statement was merely a reaffirmation of the business groups support for that position.

Senior commission officials have repeatedly insisted they will not accept a TTIP light. That was the case again in an April 15 briefing that the commission held with member states. The commission said that it believes that congressional passage in the U.S. would require an ambitious deal on agriculture, even if other segments of the deal were not. The commission said this would raise a question of balance in the deal.

One business source working said this week that a TTIP deal that does not tackle the thorny bilateral trade issues that have so far eluded resolution is not worthwhile given how strong the bilateral trade and investment relationship already is.

A member state source also speculated that business groups fear that the member states heads of government meeting with Obama will accept a less ambitious TTIP agreement if it means closing the negotiations this year. But the source insisted that this is not true since there is currently no appetite among the member states for a TTIP light deal.

The Obama administration wants to conclude the deal this year and has given direction to USTR to try to do that. U.S. chief TTIP negotiator Dan Mullaney has been doing outreach to member states in capitals.

A member state source said that Mullaney has been soliciting feedback from member states about what a final TTIP deal must contain in order to garner their support. Other sources said that he briefed member state officials on the progress of the negotiations, sources said.

A European Parliament source said that during his trips to capitals, Mullaney has also been defending the U.S. procurement offer that the European Commission has rejected as insufficient to enter the end phase of the TTIP negotiations. He argued that European companies have nothing to complain about since they have been able to win government contracts under the current U.S. procurement system.

The TTIP business alliance issued the statement before the 13th round of negotiations kicks off next week in New York City at the same time that President Obama is meeting with several European heads of government next week.

President Obama is slated to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Hannover, Germany on April 25, according to an April 20 statement from the White House.

The statement said the leaders will discuss “mutual efforts” to advance the TTIP negotiations, but Slovak Deputy Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Ivan Korcok said on April 18 that the meetings will assess whether the negotiations can enter the end game.

He also announced that U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom are slated to meet in Hannover that day.

Issuing the statement were TABC, the American Chamber of Commerce in the EU, BusinessEurope, the European Roundtable of Industrialists, Eurochambrres, EuroCommerce, the European Small Business Alliance, and the European Services Forum.
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