U.S. & Europe Trade Deal Honeymoon
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership know as TTIP, is in the process of becoming the biggest trade agreement ever negotiated. The current first five
months for 2013, U.S. trade in goods with European Union, has over a 50 billion dollar deficit for the US and is on pace for another record shortfall. Therefore, most
economic observers would naturally view that the United States is very eager to increase their share in the "Holy Grail"
of Free Trade for the international corporate economy. The first week-long round of talks concluded with a press release.
"Working
throughout the week, the negotiating groups have set out respective approaches and ambitions in as much as twenty various
areas that the TTIP - the biggest bilateral trade and investment negotiation ever undertaken - is set to cover. They included:
market access for agricultural and industrial goods, government procurement, investment, energy and raw materials, regulatory
issues, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, services, intellectual property rights, sustainable development, small- and medium-sized
enterprises, dispute settlement, competition, customs/trade facilitation, and state-owned enterprises." Setting out the broad goals and objectives for TTIP is in the Fact Sheet: United States to Negotiate Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
with the European Union. "A successfully
negotiated Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership would aim to boost economic growth in the United States and Europe
and add to the over 13 million American and European jobs already supported by transatlantic trade and investment. In particular,
the Partnership would aim to: - Further open markets to
grow the $459 billion in U.S. goods and services exports to the EU, our largest export market, which already supports an estimated
2.4 million well-paying American jobs. - Strengthen rules-based investment
to grow the world's largest investment relationship. The United States and the EU already maintain a total of nearly $4 trillion
in investment in each other's economies, supporting nearly 7 million jobs. -
Tackle costly "behind the border" non-tariff barriers that impede the flow of goods and services trade. - Seek to significantly cut the cost of differences in regulation and standards by promoting
greater compatibility, transparency, and cooperation. - Enhance cooperation
on the development of rules and principles on issues of global concern, including on market-based disciplines for State-Owned
Enterprises, combating discriminatory localization barriers to trade, and promoting the global competitiveness of small- and
medium-sized enterprises."
Wow, why would
anyone challenge, resist - much less protest - the lofty vision for the integrated global economy. Is it not the age of the
New World Order and only flakey anti WTO radical extremists oppose the seamless technocrat consolidation of all means of production
and the buying and selling experience? Maybe the substance of the opposition comes with the participants who are doing the
negotiations. Pragmatically anticipated, is that such a comprehensive
trade agreement will not only be difficult to iron out, but might well prove to be one container ship too far to sail. One
such damper on the initial enthusiasm out of the Washington meeting did not take long to emerge, as reported in the article,
EU-U.S. Free Trade Talks:
A Long Road Ahead. "Unfortunately for both the EU and U.S., more hiccups like the EP's call for
exemptions are expected en route to completing bilateral negotiations aimed at breaking down trade barriers supporting the
global supply chain. As a Dutch EP official put it, "the honeymoon phase [ahead of TTIP negotiations] is over."
Before
the TTIP consummation union takes place, some believe a prenuptial should be contemplated. No one wants a divorce, but there
are significant cultural differences among the in-laws. Dan
Ikenson, at Forbes in the article, The Fallacy At The Heart Of The
New E.U.-U.S. Trade Talks, offers this criticism and customer consequences that usually comes
out of standardized regulatory requirements. The tangible danger is that TTIP will just be another agreement that fails to
distinguish from corporate welfare and crony capitalism, and diminishes real economic choices among consumers. "Too
many Americans are inclined to don their rally caps in support of Team USA’s performance in the Great Trade Negotiations
of 2013, as though it were their own personal interests – and not the interests of U.S. industries that would swiftly
deny them better choices and better prices – that U.S. negotiators have at heart and in mind. Perhaps, the next time these fans find themselves on a delayed flight, sandwiched
between sweaty passengers in the stuffy cabin of an aged aircraft on a crowded tarmac because of some checklist oversight
of an airline employee, they might consider how Team USA’s negotiators in the TTIP adamantly oppose competition from
foreign carriers between U.S cities because that’s what the domestic carriers and their unions want."
Expect that the E U : U S Trade Deal Potential
Winners and Losers, will be the final result. This video reasons that the U.S. will be the
overall winner. Yet in Initial Thoughts on a TransAtlantic
Trade and Investment Partnership, Christopher Wood argues a different motivation and outcome. "With
Europe mired in slow growth and, in parts, a lasting recession, and with weakening capacity and political will for further
economic stimulus, the EU has been searching for any action that could kick-start economic recovery. An agreement with the
US could do just that, boosting European exports and offering a counterweight to otherwise weak global demand. While a recovering
US isn’t quite as desperate for new sources of growth, the agreement could counterbalance some of the growth lost to
continuing austerity policies, offsetting the economic shock of the sequester."
All
these trade agreements benefit the corporatist insiders and collectivist unionists, who influence the political bribery machine.
The lowly consumer is held hostage to the uniform market consolidation where the "one size fits all sides" chain
of conformity, that thrives in the NWO mart of regimentation. The one consistent fear that disturbs the marital bliss of their
TTIP honeymoon is the imposition of genuine national tariffs that protect independent businesses, who are the most prominent
employers in a prosperous economy. Beware: Free Trade = Global Submission. James
Hall – July 17, 2013
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