Transatlantyckie Partnerstwo na rzecz Handlu i Inwestycji – nowy regionalizm atlantycki?

Abstract

The beginning of negotiations of the Transatlantic Partnership for Trade and Investments (TTIP) in July 2013 heralds a new era in the relations between the EU and the USA. Economically, the USA traditionally preferred global solutions encompassing also trade with Europe, but the stalled DDA WTO negotiations and a new wave of regional extended free trade agreements inevitably brought back the issue of concluding such an agreement between the two biggest partners in the world trade system. The idea of a transatlantic FTA was explored in the 1990s by both sides, but was shelved for various reasons. Now, the struggle to combat the economic crisis on both sides of the Atlantic has induced the political leaders to carry the idea through. Most commentators agree that the economic importance of the agreement will depend not that much on lowering of the tariffs, but on the level of ambition for dismantling the non-tariff barriers to trade, mostly in the field of technical standards, but also public procurement and services. A weak reaction so far of the key players of the global trade negotiations and lack of resistance from the WTO bodes well for the future of the agreement, which is supposed to create thousands of new jobs and bring about new confidence on both sides of the Atlantic.