As negotiations on the TTIP between the US and the EU get started in July, we are looking forward to months of debate on the benefits - and possible drawbacks – of this potentially historic agreement. Heralded as a future source of growth for an economically dormant EU – and by some as the last chance for the West to write the rules on global trade -  the TTIP has a lot to live up to. However, with already low tariffs between the EU and the US, the TTIP will have to focus on non-tariff barriers, which are far more politically sensitive.  The political obstacles have begun to appear even before negotiations start: France’s threat of vetoing the European Commission’s negotiating mandate if cultural goods were not excluded from a potential deal has raised the spectre of countervailing exclusions in the US when President Obama asks for fast track negotiating authority from Congress. Have the high hopes of a few months ago already been dashed? Can we realistically expect a deal in 2014? 

In order to answer these questions, the Centre for European Studies (CES) will host an event on Thursday 4 July 2013 in Brussels featuring Mr. Peter Chase, Vice President for Europe at the US Chamber of Commerce and Non-Resident Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the US. Mr. Chase will deliver an in-depth analysis of these issues, followed by a Q&A session.

A sandwich lunch will be provided at 12:30, with the conference starting at 13:00.
 
Please register by email to Bernada Cunj at bc@thinkingeurope.eu [1]. We look forward to seeing you on 4 July 2013 at our office!