NFTC Submits Comments on TTIP Agreement

Washington, D.C. – The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) today, in response to a Federal Register request by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, submitted comments regarding the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement.

To follow is an excerpt of the NFTC’s comments. For the full text, click here.

“The United States and the European Union are the world’s largest economies, with each generating over $15 trillion in GDP and together producing half of the world’s output. Each is also the other’s largest trading partner, with more than $1.5 trillion in goods, services, and income receipts annually. Together we lead the world in maintaining and shaping the rules based global trading and investment system that powers growth, prosperity, and jobs at home and in every country on earth.

“As noted in prior comments, NFTC urges the Administration to negotiate an agreement that will:

• Maintain strong political commitment to a successful conclusion and oversight of technical negotiations to assure a timely and ambitious result.

• Set clear criteria to ‘do no harm’ that would backtrack on existing U.S. high standards set in U.S.-Korea (KORUS) free trade agreement and other bilateral or multilateral agreements or result in any new barriers to trade and investment between the US and EU or against third parties.

• Build on groundbreaking disciplines on “21st century” trade and investment issues developed in the context of current Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.

• Bring a “whole of government” commitment to include the range of U.S. and EU independent governmental and sub-federal entities.

• Increase regulatory cooperation to maximize existing and future regulatory compatibility and equivalence wherever possible, recognizing industry developed testing and voluntary consensus standards. …

“… NFTC fully backs an ambitious TTIP that addresses tariff and non-tariff barriers and regulatory issues as appropriate, though the remainder of these comments will focus on several priority areas that we believe are essential to address in the negotiations:

(1) boosting participation in the global digital marketplace;
(2) enhancing the transatlantic framework for Intellectual Property rules and protections and bolstering collaboration vis-à-vis third countries and global forums;
(3) facilitating global mobility; and
(4) improving disciplines on state-owned enterprises. …”

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About the NFTC
Advancing Global Commerce for Nearly A Century- The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules- based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.
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