EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström addressed the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee on Monday.

The tenth round of TTIP negotiations is underway in Brussels, where one talking point is sure to be the European Parliament’s set of recommendations to EU negotiators, which you can read here. Having long suffered a reputation as merely a peripheral body to trade negotiations, the Parliament has recently asserted itself as a major voice in the TTIP debate with its recently approved list of proposals, one of which calls for the establishment of a public investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system.

From July 28-31, the United States will host a meeting of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Ministers in Hawaii, where it hopes to finalize an agreement. However, without a stronger commitment from Canada to lower its steep barriers to agricultural trade, the United States may opt to conclude a deal without its northern neighbor.

“We need to make sure that trade policy is effective in today’s global economy. That means tackling new kinds of trade barriers. We should work harder to open services markets. We live in a digital age, and digital trade is global by nature. The openness of the European internal market should be maintained and developed further in the digital world, allowing consumers and business to access a broadened global digital market, with the only limit being the protection of personal data.” – Cecilia Malmström

In a speech yesterday in front of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee (INTA), EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström outlined an updated trade strategy based on three broad courses of action: ensuring that trade policy is effective in today’s global economy, promoting EU values around the world, and remaining a staunch defender of the multilateral trading system. (European Commission)

Read the program for the TTIP Stakeholder Presentations Event on July 15 here.

 

Following the European Parliament’s crucial vote last week on recommendations to TTIP negotiators, the 751-member body — which does not participate directly in trade negotiations — looks to have finally staked out a central role in the policy debate surrounding the US-EU trade deal. As the only democratically-elected centralized EU institution, the Parliament has long suffered an undue reputation for irrelevance, but with its approval last week of a resolution calling for a public investor-state dispute settlement system, it has asserted itself as a major voice in the ongoing TTIP debate. (PoliticoEU)

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has accused British critics of TTIP of fabricating false scare stories in order to derail the agreement, and has urged business chiefs to help advance the case for expanded trade with the United States. (Western Morning News)

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Romanian MEP Sorin Moisa of the S&D party argues that TTIP is essential to fostering deeper economic unity between Europe and the United States in the face of destabilizing phenomena such as globalization and the so-called “return of geopolitics.” (EurActiv)

Christian Ewert, Director General of the Foreign Trade Association in Brussels, and Julia Hughes, President of the United States Fashion Industry Association in Washington, highlight and refute three myths distorting the public debate on TTIP: that time is nearly up for stakeholders to influence the outcome of negotiations, that the agreement would undermine democracy, and that a majority of US and European citizens oppose the deal. (EurActiv)

The United States, frustrated with Canada’s unwillingness to lower its steep barriers to agricultural trade, is considering a TPP agreement that excludes its northern neighbor. At a meeting with US Trade Representative Michael Froman last Thursday, several US senators urged him to secure a deal without Canada if the country fails to deliver a serious proposal on market access. (Reuters)

Robert Zoellick, former World Bank president and US trade representative, argues that the TPP offers an unprecedented opportunity to transform ocean and fisheries conservation through strictly enforceable anti-subsidy provisions. Working with eleven Pacific Rim countries that account for one-third of the world’s wild catch by weight, the United States can help ban subsidies for overharvesting and illegal fishing, and achieve important conservation goals in the process. (Wall Street Journal)

UK National Road Shows – June to December in the United Kingdom, hosted by the British American Business – More Information

TTIP Stakeholder Engagement Event, Round 10 – July 15 in Brussels, organized by the Directorate General for Trade of the European Commission – More Information

EU Digital Single Market Conference – September 15 in Brussels, hosted by the Trans-Atlantic Business Council – More Information