TTIP: transatlantic free trade at last?

Abstract

In a radical departure from the transatlantic trade policy practised for several decades, the EU and the USA launched, in 2013, formal negotiations for a comprehensive bilateral Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Drawing on the author's previous professional experience in this area, the article examines two central questions in relation to this initiative. First, what has prompted EU and US political leaders, who have in the past generally prioritized the multilateral route for transatlantic trade and investment liberalization, to opt now for a wide-ranging bilateral transatlantic free trade agreement, an option that has been rejected several times since the early 1990s? Second, what are the chances for a successful outcome this time round, given that the difficulties inherent in the negotiation of a transatlantic FTA have not fundamentally changed in the interim, and given the widespread public opposition that the proposed agreement has aroused? The conclusion reached is that, as for previous abortive proposals for a transatlantic free trade agreement, the motivation is essentially geo-strategic; but that the trade policy challenges inherent in negotiating such an agreement remain as great as ever.