Advantages and Disadvantages of the Transatlantic Deal (essay)

Advantages and disadvantages of the transatlantic deal

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a trade agreement under negotiation between the United States and the European Union. The deal aims to facilitate trade between the US and the EU and to promote multilateral economic growth. Its main idea is to remove customs tariffs and harmonize legislative regulations and standards of both sides.

Discussions over the anticipated effects of the TTIP have split the European society into two sides: those who welcome the transatlantic deal and those who protest against it. Both sides have strong arguments to support their point of view.

The advocates of the deal argue that the TTIP has the potential to boost both economies’ GDP and make European citizens a little wealthier. Doing international business is going to be easier; exchanging products will get faster and less costly. Exploring new markets could also boost business development across the two regions.

However, many aspects of the deal are being passed over in silence because of their debatable nature. The opponents of the Partnership fear that standard harmonization could lower advanced European standards, including food safety standards. So-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement procedure allows businesses to sue governments if policies directly affect their profits, which is deemed unacceptable by TTIP critics. Finally, people cannot envisage all negative effects of the deal because of lack of transparency.

To sum up all of the above, the TTIP has serious disadvantages and needs further thorough revision in order to comply with the demands of both sides.

Olga Alekhina

16.09.2016