U.S., EU trade negotiators wrap up latest round of T-TIP talks

Negotiators for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, remain optimistic that an agreement will be reached, although political support has waned.    U.S. and EU negotiators for the wide-ranging trade agreement known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) remain optimistic that an agreement will be reached, although political support for the trade pact has waned.
   “We remain ready to move forward on an agreement that is in our mutual economic interest,” said Dan Mullaney, chief negotiator for the United States, in prepared remarks to the press on Friday in New York, where the negotiators met for the 15th round of T-TIP negotiations.
   “We have heard some skeptical voices about T-TIP lately, but I want to emphasize that the United States remains fully engaged in these negotiations and is as committed as ever to their success,” Mullaney added.
   “The economic rationale to strengthen transatlantic ties is obvious. The U.S. and the European Union are eachother’s major trading partners. The U.S. is the biggest recipient of EU’s investments and the biggest foreign investor in the EU,” said Ignacio Garcia-Bercero, the European Union’s chief negotiator. “So, it makes sense to make their life easier for instance by reducing tariffs or facilitating their ways through customs. This would allow them to open up new transatlantic bridges and create new jobs.”
   During the talks, the United States and European Union discussed rules of origin, autos, intellectual property, trade remedies and textiles.
   “We also made good progress in resolving conceptual and language differences in several negotiating areas during this round, especially in customs and trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, regulatory cooperation, technical barriers to trade, and regulatory compatibility in key sectors, like autos, pharmaceuticals and medical devices,” Mullaney explained.
   During the talks in New York, more than 20 individual T-TIP negotiating groups covered a range of trade topics, including investment, state-to-state dispute settlement, cross-border services, financial services, government procurement, environment, labor, agriculture, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, industrial tariffs, energy and raw materials, small and midsized enterprises, and legal and institutional issues.
   The EU trade ministers plan to meet on Nov. 11 to discuss this latest round of T-TIP.
   Meanwhile, the recently concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a far-reaching trade agreement that covers 12 countries including the United States, has been under political fire, with both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates vowing, if elected, to oppose its passage.