How the Proposed US-EU Trade Agreement Screws Workers and Undermines Democracy

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/178980/how-proposed-us-eu-trade-agreement-screws-workers-and-undermines-democracy



Earlier this month in Brussels, US and EU negotiators held a fourth round of secret talks on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The agreement would remove so-called “trade barriers” between the United States and Europe by eliminating tariffs and weakening the regulatory authority of nation-states.

The talks in Brussels come on the heels of a new public relations push by the Obama administration. In February, US Trade Representative Michael Froman, speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP), outlined the administration’s new “values-driven” trade agenda. Ostensibly stronger on labor and environmental standards, the approach promises to boost job growth at home by removing foreign tariffs on US exports.

Given that already ballooning corporate profits have not created a US jobs boom, an increase in corporate export profits is unlikely to help. What’s more, recent trade agreements have failed to increase US exports in the first place.

But engaging this argument misses the real issue. TTIP is much less about reducing tariffs, which are already fairly low between the United States and the EU, and more about weakening the power of average citizens to defend themselves against corporate labor and environmental abuses.

[dipsydoodle]

1. weakening the regulatory authority of nation-states

[xchrom]

2. and we're having problems with that even with out these new treaties. nt

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. I'm opposed to it, UNLESS...

it means that the USA is going to adopt the same health and safety standards and worker protections and food safety guidelines that the EU has in place. For instance the EU currently bans importation of growth hormone-treated US meat, and a whole range of food additives regularly used in processed US foods are banned in Europe; I would prefer to keep it that way, even if it means keeping "barriers to trade" in place. Unfortunately most of these trade deals look much worse for other countries, since levelling the playing field in practice means bringing other countries' standards down to the USA's level instead of the other way round.