All-Party Parliamentary Group on EU-US Trade & Investment

Bulletin 6 – April 2014

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations

Presidents Barack Obama, Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso discussed progress in the TTIP negotiations launched in July last year at the EU-US Summit in Brussels March 26^th. President Obama stressed in the subsequent press conference that while the public concerns and questions about the negotiations were legitimate, he cautioned people to wait for the outcome of the negotiations. He underlined that he would not sign an agreement that would reduce consumer or environmental protections. A link to the press conference is here: http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?ref=I088072 The Joint Statement from the Summit is below:

Today we reaffirmed our commitment to conclude expeditiously a comprehensive and ambitious Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that will strengthen an economic partnership that already accounts for nearly half of global output and supports three-quarters of a trillion euros in bilateral trade, and almost 3 trillion euros in investment, and 13 million jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. We commit ourselves to conducting these negotiations with clarity and in a manner that builds support among our publics. The United States and the EU continue to share the same goals spelled out in the February 2013 Final Report of the High Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth. These goals include expanding access to each other’s markets for goods, services, investment, and procurement; increasing regulatory compatibility while maintaining the high levels of health, safety, labour and environmental protection our citizens expect of us; and formulating joint approaches to rules that address global trade challenges of common concern. A high-standard TTIP agreement will make us more competitive globally, and boost economic and jobs growth, including for small and medium-sized enterprises.

EU and US trade negotiators met for their fourth round of formal negotiations in Brussels under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) March 10^th-15th. The final report from the negotiating round is here: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1041

As during previous rounds, negotiators also met with a large number of stakeholders. In addition to making steady progress on rules and regulatory questions, the talks focused on mechanisms to ensure that small and medium sized enterprises benefit from a TTIP, a concern that our APPG delegation to Brussels pressed hard with the EU Chief Negotiator and the Chair of the Trade Committee of the European Parliament. A Joint Report by US and EU officials on SMEs is here: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2014/march/tradoc_152266.pdf

A fifth round of negotiations is to be held in Washington, D.C. in May. In the US Congress a New TTIP Caucus has been established with the following Co-chairs:

Congressman Bill Keating (D-MA), co-Chair, TTIP Caucus

Congressman Richard Neal (D-MA), co-Chair, TTIP Caucus

Congressman Erik Paulsen (R-MN), co-Chair, TTIP Caucus

Congressman Todd Young (R-IN), co-Chair, TTIP Caucus

The introduction of an Investor-state-dispute-settlement (isds) mechanism in TTIP has been the subject of public debate in the UK and other Member States as well as the European Parliament. The European Commission has subsequently launched a public on-line consultation on isds on the 27^th of March, and negotiations on the investment chapter in the negotiations have been put on hold for the three month period that the consultations last. A link to Commission’s note on the consultations is here: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2014/march/tradoc_152279.pdf

APPG Parliamentary open meetings

The APPG will host a series of Panel Discussions on the potential impact of TTIP on specific sectors in the UK in June this year. Like the APPG panel discussion held February 4^th on the automotive sector (brief here: http://tradeinvest2015.babinc.org/eu-us-trade/all-party-parliamentary-group/brief-automotive-sector-ttip/) these meetings bring together panelists from the industry and unions and consumers, and are open to outside organizations as well as Parliamentarians. Planned meetings will focus on:

Pharmaceutical sector

Chemical sector

Textile sector

Agriculture, Food and Drink sector

APPG visits

A delegation of eight APPG officers and members visited Brussels on the 5^th and 6^th of March for meetings with European Parliamentarians, stakeholder groups and UK and Commission officials. A note on the main assessments from the briefings can be found here.

APPG Parliamentary briefing meetings

The APPG organises a series of smaller private briefing meetings, potentially open to Group members who wish to attend – if you’d like to be informed or invited, please email john.healey.mp@parliament.uk or guto.bebb.mp@parliament.uk.

APPG officers met privately with the Chief US Negotiator on Investment, Jay Motwane on March 11^th.

APPG officers have also met with Deputy USTR, Ambassador Miriam Sapiro, and EU Chief Negotiator for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations, Director Ignacio Garcia Bercero.

British American Business activities

BritishAmericanBusiness is running a nation-wide series of road shows on TTIP to reach out to SMEs and beyond the traditional policy community in London. Expert panels of speakers introduce discussions on the benefits and effects of a proposed deal. The APPG officers and MP members contribute to panel discussions alongside business leaders, UKTI Advisors and APPG officers. Road-shows in 2014 will be held in:

Cardiff in April

Glasgow in May

Birmingham, Liverpool in June

Edinburgh in September

Sheffield, Bristol in October

For further information see: http://www.tradeinvest.babinc.org