The European Union (EU) Delegation to the United States just published another “eu matters” entitled “Partners of Choice in a Complex World” looking at i) the scale of the EU-US economic relationship and ii) the many areas where the US and EU partner to confront global challenges.
Concurrently, diligently in the background, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiation teams are preparing for the next round of negotiations, scheduled for early 2016. Cecilia Malmström, EU Trade Commissioner stated, “We want to use trade agreements to set ambitious and binding standards, to address global challenges such as protecting the environment and labour rights in a globalised world”. Proposals are being put forward on a range of issues including collaboration with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to implement strong labor standards, combat illegal logging, fishing and other transnational environmental issues, limiting the use of antibiotics in animal production to help combat antibiotic resistance as well as the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) chapter of TTIP that would establish a Committee on SME issues.
Read More