TPP ministers this week are looking towards Ed Fast, Canada’s Minister for International Trade, to make a new market access offer on Canadian dairy.

After today, we will be taking a short break from TTIP and will resume our comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of U.S.-EU trade in the fall. The TTIP Action team wishes you a relaxing rest of the summer!

Trade ministers from the twelve TPP nations are considering a U.S. proposal for a separate forum outside of the agreement to discuss how to prevent countries from manipulating currencies for competitive advantage.

The U.S. position on pharmaceuticals is threatening to derail the TPP, perhaps even more so than Japan’s stance on rice or Canada’s position on dairy.

Greater regulatory harmonization under TTIP is expected to raise EU-US auto trade by at least 20 percent, generating over 18 billion euros per year for the European Union and the United States economies.

Greater regulatory harmonization under TTIP is expected to raise EU-US auto trade by at least 20 percent, generating over 18 billion euros per year for the European Union and the United States economies, according to a report from the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “Mutual recognition” of EU and US standards would not only create an integrated transatlantic market, but would also end up effectively setting the standards for the rest of the world, including China. (EurActiv)

 

Opponents of TTIP have pointed out that the agreement may fail to pass muster with national parliaments across Europe, after a study by the Institute of Law at the University of Cologne confirmed that in all member states except for Malta, a parliamentary approval process would be necessary to ratify the agreement. To that end, a number of senior legislators across various national parliaments have urged the European Commission to officially classify TTIP as a “mixed agreement,” which would subject it to ratification by both the Commission and national legislatures. (EUObserver)

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Concerns about the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism in TTIP remain at the fore of the trade debate after Gabriel Resources officially announced this week that it filed a request for arbitration against Romania before the World Bank’s investment dispute settlement center. Two years ago, the Romanian parliament decided at the last minute not to host Europe’s largest gold mine, which would have been constructed and run by Gabriel Resources. The Canadian mining company is now seeking compensation in a case that will reignite concerns over whether the current ISDS system restricts countries’ ability to legislate in the public interest. (EurActiv)

The U.S. position on pharmaceuticals is threatening to derail the TPP, perhaps even more so than Japan’s stance on rice or Canada’s position on dairy. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman has found himself in the middle of a tug-of-war between activists pressing to secure access to low-cost pharmaceuticals and Republicans who say Congress will reject a deal without strong patent protections for the drug industry. The key issue to be decided is the length of the patent protection window, with the U.S. insisting on protections that last up to twelve years in accordance with U.S. law, as compared to the much shorter windows advocated by several other TPP nations. (NY Times)

According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Deborah Elms, executive director at the Asia Trade Centre, the TPP will benefit Vietnam the most out of the agreement’s eleven other member nations. Tariff-free access to U.S. markets for apparel and footwear is expected to boost Vietnamese exports to the U.S and significantly increase foreign direct investment inflows in a country with the lowest per capita income among TPP members. (CNBC)

With the U.S. facing a stalled WTO process, David Fidler, visiting fellow for cybersecurity at the Council on Foreign Relations, writes that the “digital trade rules-of-the-road” that the Obama administration hopes to include in the TPP could mark a turning point in the global governance of digital commerce. The TPP’s e-commerce provisions will affect not only trade, but countries’ efforts to subject cyberspace to national sovereignty that run counter to U.S. interests in advancing an open, globally accessible Internet. (Council on Foreign Relations)

Trade ministers from the twelve TPP nations are considering a U.S. proposal for a separate forum to discuss how to prevent countries from manipulating currencies for competitive advantage. Negotiators are hoping that a forum where finance chiefs agree to consider on a regular basis aspects of currency manipulation can compensate for the fact that currency rules will not be included in the TPP, given that such rules could undermine the independence of monetary policy for TPP members. (Reuters)

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

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

Trade for Sustainable Development Forum 2015 – October 1-2 in Geneva, hosted by the International Trade Centre – More information