De Gucht: What we need to make TTIP work

05 May 2014

European Commissioner for Trade, Karel De Gucht, says the EU needs to make the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership work on a balanced playing field.

"The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a complex negotiation. It covers trade in large volumes, different goods and services, touching upon a variety of government policies. But for all its complexity, the practical reality of this negotiation is simple: Either we reach a deal that creates real new opportunities for both sides while staying true to the values of both sides or we will fail.

In my view we have to do three things:

1. Aim high. People in Germany, the rest of Europe and the United States will only benefit if the eventual deal actually creates many new opportunities for companies to trade.
2. Remember our values. The reason we can aim high is because we have many values in common. But we also know we have different societal choices on important issues. So the deal – and the negotiation - needs to respect both the values we share and our right to disagree.
3. Work together. If we want this to work we need a deal that works for people on both sides of the Atlantic.

That means we need huge cooperative effort within the European Union between the European Commission and the US Trade Representative and also among the many actors in the US who have a stake in this deal.

This deal has potential. It can create a lot of growth and jobs. It can improve the choice for consumers and lower the prices citizens pay for products and services. It can help both the EU and the US maintain our position in a changing world. But it can only do these three things if we are ambitious. The agreement can only create growth and jobs if we make it easier for companies to trade across the Atlantic. That means increasing access to the American market for European firms… and vice versa.

We wish to eliminate as many tariffs as possible. Tariffs are low on average but high for many exporters. German ceramics makers and ice-cream makers, for example, both pay over 20 per cent in duties on every product they export to the US.

Improved market access for services companies is equally important: you just have to look at the success of T-Mobile in the US to see that. Services also support manufacturing trade. More than 40% of the value of Germany's automotive and railway exports is composed of services – like design, finance and distribution.

And we need to establish a level playing field in public procurement. In Europe some 31 million people work in companies for whom governments are essential customers - companies like Siemens or Hochtief here in Germany. If the TTIP is to create growth and jobs it needs to make it easier for those companies to sell to governments of all levels in both markets."

Full speech

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