Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

[Leshma]

What is TTIP? And six reasons why the answer should scare you

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a series of trade negotiations being carried out mostly in secret between the EU and US. As a bi-lateral trade agreement, TTIP is about reducing the regulatory barriers to trade for big business, things like food safety law, environmental legislation, banking regulations and the sovereign powers of individual nations. It is, as John Hilary, Executive Director of campaign group War on Want, said: “An assault on European and US societies by transnational corporations.”

Since before TTIP negotiations began last February, the process has been secretive and undemocratic. This secrecy is on-going, with nearly all information on negotiations coming from leaked documents and Freedom of Information requests.

Public services, especially the NHS, are in the firing line. One of the main aims of TTIP is to open up Europe’s public health, education and water services to US companies. This could essentially mean the privatisation of the NHS.

TTIP’s ‘regulatory convergence’ agenda will seek to bring EU standards on food safety and the environment closer to those of the US. But US regulations are much less strict, with 70 per cent of all processed foods sold in US supermarkets now containing genetically modified ingredients. By contrast, the EU allows virtually no GM foods. The US also has far laxer restrictions on the use of pesticides. It also uses growth hormones in its beef which are restricted in Europe due to links to cancer. US farmers have tried to have these restrictions lifted repeatedly in the past through the World Trade Organisation and it is likely that they will use TTIP to do so again.

The same goes for the environment, where the EU’s REACH regulations are far tougher on potentially toxic substances. In Europe a company has to prove a substance is safe before it can be used; in the US the opposite is true: any substance can be used until it is proven unsafe. As an example, the EU currently bans 1,200 substances from use in cosmetics; the US just 12.

TTIP cuts both ways. The UK, under the influence of the all-powerful City of London, is thought to be seeking a loosening of US banking regulations. America’s financial rules are tougher than ours. They were put into place after the financial crisis to directly curb the powers of bankers and avoid a similar crisis happening again. TTIP, it is feared, will remove those restrictions, effectively handing all those powers back to the bankers.

Remember ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement)? It was thrown out by a massive majority in the European Parliament in 2012 after a huge public backlash against what was rightly seen as an attack on individual privacy where internet service providers would be required to monitor people’s online activity.  Well, it’s feared that TTIP could be bringing back ACTA’s central elements, proving that if the democratic approach doesn’t work, there’s always the back door. An easing of data privacy laws and a restriction of public access to pharmaceutical companies’ clinical trials are also thought to be on the cards.

The EU has admitted that TTIP will probably cause unemployment as jobs switch to the US, where labour standards and trade union rights are lower. It has even advised EU members to draw on European support funds to compensate for the expected unemployment.

Examples from other similar bi-lateral trade agreements around the world support the case for job losses.  The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Canada and Mexico caused the loss of one million US jobs over 12 years, instead of the hundreds of thousands of extra that were promised.

TTIP’s biggest threat to society is its inherent assault on democracy. One of the main aims of TTIP is the introduction of Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS), which allow companies to sue governments if those governments’ policies cause a loss of profits. In effect it means unelected transnational corporations can dictate the policies of democratically elected governments.

So I don’t know about you, but I’m scared. I would vote against TTIP, except… hang on a minute… I can’t. Like you, I have no say whatsoever in whether TTIP goes through or not.  All I can do is tell as many people about it as possible, as I hope, will you. We may be forced to accept an attack on democracy but we can at least fight against the conspiracy of silence.

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[Kafein]

Still must pass the legislative system in each country, and considering old media are slowly picking this up, it's not going to be that easy. Contact your representatives. Remind them that they wouldn't sign a contract without knowing what is written on it.

Also that might be funny to hear, but not everything in those agreements is a transliteration of Satan's will. Admittedly, most of it is.

[Grytviken]

 This proposal would benefit the United States and Germany the most, possibly to the detriment of others since it will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and increase trade by a considerable margin in select countries with the industrial strength to benefit more from the lack of customs and entry level tarrifs.

https://www.cesifo-group.de/ifoHome/facts/Aktuelles-Stichwort/Topical-Terms-Archive/Transatlantic-Free-Trade-Agreement.html

[Kafein]

This proposal would benefit the United States and Germany the most, possibly to the detriment of others since it will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and increase trade by a considerable margin in select countries with the industrial strength to benefit more from the lack of customs and entry level tarrifs.

https://www.cesifo-group.de/ifoHome/facts/Aktuelles-Stichwort/Topical-Terms-Archive/Transatlantic-Free-Trade-Agreement.html

Who the hell cares about trade benefits, when it's basic rule of law, individual freedoms, public health, natural resources and the public domain being put in jeopardy?

Yes, a free trade agreement would be beneficial for society at large, but TTIP is not a free trade agreement. You have to discuss the actual contents of the propositions to make that point, but you can't because it's not public. Not even your representatives can actually read it, which is completely insane.

[Beauchamp]

overall a good thing

[Grytviken]

Who the hell cares about trade benefits, when it's basic rule of law, individual freedoms, public health, natural resources and the public domain being put in jeopardy?

Yes, a free trade agreement would be beneficial for society at large, but TTIP is not a free trade agreement. You have to discuss the actual contents of the propositions to make that point, but you can't because it's not public. Not even your representatives can actually read it, which is completely insane.

Usually they don't disclose the fine details until the negotiations are over and the deal is ready, but Germany proposed something similar to this in 1995 that never went through so who knows.