Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership

Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership
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Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership
The European Union is negotiating an investment and trade deal with the United States, known as the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP). With TTIP, the European Union wants to help small and large businesses and even European people, by: opening up the United States to European Union companies; helping to reduce formalities that businesses face whenever they export to America; and developing new rules that will make it fairer and easier to invest, import, and export overseas (Bledowski, 2014). In essence, the TTIP would bring about more growth as well as new opportunities by removing tariffs and bureaucracy whenever possible in order to decrease costs and open up new markets. In turn, this would make it easier for business organizations both in the EU and the United States to access the markets of each other.
Sticking points
There are quite a few sticking points in the negotiation. The sticking points are largely non-tariff barriers aimed at protecting domestic companies and further trade policies of the individual countries. Although duties and tariffs have reduced, the US and the EU both maintain various non-tariff impediments. For instance, at the moment, rules in the United States prohibit certain cheeses and food products from Europe although the European Union has put in place its own stern rules on all foods (Bledowski, 2014). Moreover, motor vehicle emissions and mileage requirements specified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency are in fact sterner than those in E.U member states. These requirements essentially add to the cost of motor vehicles produced in the European Union.
Food additives are the other example of non-tariff obstacle restricting the flow of goods and are a significant sticking point. The EU disallows the importation of foods and food products that have been produced from genetically modified organisms (Council & Bertelsmann Foundation, 2014). This is a majo...