[CTC] TTIP round announced in NY -- EU looking for concessions

[Arthur Stamoulis]

A couple on TTIP...


INSIDE US TRADE 
15th TTIP Round Slated For The First Week Of October, In New York City
September 14, 2016
U.S. and European Union negotiators are slated to meet in New York City the week of Oct. 3 for the 15th round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations, according to multiple sources.
The negotiating round, which has not officially been announced by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, will follow a Sept. 15 meeting between USTR Michael Froman and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, as well as an informal EU trade ministers meeting Sept. 22-23.
Trade ministers at that meeting are expected to determine if the TTIP negotiations have reached the stage where they can enter into so-called “end game” discussions.
 
INSIDE US TRADE
Malmstrom Seeks Progress In Froman Meeting To Show EU Ministers Next Week

September 14, 2016 
European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom is expected to seek a tangible concession from her counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, on outstanding issues in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations to convince EU trade ministers to support the continuation of the negotiations at an informal meeting next week, sources said.

Froman and Malmstrom likely will discuss the key political sticking points that have to this point hindered the negotiations, such as geographical indication and market access for services and procurement, sources said.

The trade ministers, slated to meet Sept. 22-23 in Bratislava, are expected to determine if the TTIP negotiations can enter into the final stages. But no consensus is expected from the trade ministers on how, or even if, the negotiations should play out. The EU has long held the view that the final stages of negotiations, which include negotiations on eliminating or reducing tariffs on the EU's most sensitive agricultural products, can only be entered if progress has been made on GIs and services and procurement market access.

Additionally, political leaders in Europe have offered varying opinions on the state of TTIP over the past few weeks. In a Sept. 14 letter to Malmstrom, 12 EU ministers offered their endorsement of continuing the negotiations.

"We are confident that you will be able achieve the goals and secure our objectives in line with the Council negotiating mandate of 2013," the letter says. "Thus we reiterate our commitment and support given to the Commission in the negotiations. We look forward to the continuation of the TTIP negotiations with the US and to working closely with the Commission in the coming months."

Other ministers, including French Minister for State and Foreign Trade Matthias Fekl and German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel, have been vocal critics of the agreement. Fekl at the Bratislava meeting will ask that the TTIP negotiations be suspended and Gabriel has said that the talks have already "de facto failed."

This led one U.S. business source to speculate that there will be no clear announcement on TTIP following the meeting. That would not necessarily inhibit the commission from pushing into the final stage of negotiations, however. Both business sources noted that Froman and Malmstrom already have been working on the politically sensitive issues. One source pointed out that the U.S. goal has been to enter into the final stage of the negotiations in the fall, which remains plausible.

Still unclear, however, is whether the U.S. is willing to concede ground on any of those issues, especially in light of the United Kingdom's vote to leave the EU. For instance, the U.S. appears unlikely to better its procurement market access offer as Froman has said the UK represents roughly 25 percent of U.S. procurement opportunities in the EU and the loss of that market will require expectations to be recalibrated.

Similarly, the UK's expected departure from the EU market also lessens the value of the EU's services market, meaning that Brussels has less to offer Washington to incentivize it to up its market access offer.

In this way, Brexit could actually provide the European Commission cover to walk back its hardline stance that the U.S. better its services and procurement market access offers, the source said.

On GIs, Malmstrom has signaled a willingness to work within the U.S. legal framework, but at the same time still needs a tangible outcome to appease southern European countries that have prioritized the issue. One business source speculated that this could lead the U.S. to agree to a small list of GIs to protect, rather than the 30-50 prioritized names the EU put forward at the 13th round in April in New York City.

The U.S. and EU, while still publicly aiming to wrap up the talks this year, are working to progress the negotiations far enough so that the next U.S. administration would be compelled to continue them, sources said. But the next U.S. administration may find the political climate for TTIP to be uninhabitable given the negative rhetoric trade policy has been subject to during the presidential election, one source said.

Additionally, USTR is generally one of the last positions to be filled by new administrations, potentially pushing back the revival of negotiations to the second half of 2017. One way to avoid this is if Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton wins her bid for the presidency and keeps Froman on temporarily, the source said. --Brett Fortnam (bfortnam at iwpnews.com <mailto:bfortnam at iwpnews.com>)
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