Brief

The TTIP at the forefront of the 21st century international trade system?

Elvire Fabry analyses the current negotiation of the TTIP between the EU and the USA. If they pull off the negotiation, it would mean that they have succeeded in setting up a pioneering mechanism for addressing the main issue in commercial agreements in the 21st century, namely regulatory convergence.

“Watchfulness” is the key word marking every stance adopted on the negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), while opens the 4th round of negotiations in Brussels on the 10 March 2014.

In this Tribune, published in a shorter version by Euractiv.com, Elvire Fabry:

1. analyses the unprecedented mobilisation of public opinions;

2. underlines the limits of impact assesments conducted to date, while numerous parameters are
still open and need to be clarified;

3. and scrutinises the decisive challenge of this project: if the Europeans and Americans pull off these negotiations, they will have succeeded in setting up a pioneering mechanism for addressing the main issue in trade agreements in the 21st century, namely regulatory convergence.