Brussels, 30/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - In the framework of high-level discussions launched by the Transatlantic Economic Council, the EU and the United States are to examine the possibility of negotiating a free-trade agreement to support growth and employment in the two largest economies in the world.
A key initiative launched at the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) of 29 November, in the wake of the annual EU/United States summit held the day before in Washington, the high-level group on growth and employment may agree, in its most ambitious option, to recommend negotiations for a free-trade agreement. The idea, which has long been sidelined by the transatlantic partners in favour of reinforced regulatory coordination, has not been ruled out. “Everything is on the table, from tariffs to non-tariff barriers to enhanced regulatory cooperation”, explained the White House international economics adviser to President Barack Obama, Mike Froman, after Tuesday's meeting. A “potential” bilateral free-trade agreement would certainly be the most ambitious conclusion of the latest high-level talks, but “we will look into everything and see where we can deliver”, confirmed Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who is co-president of the TEC alongside Froman, and who, together with American Trade Representative Ron Kirk, will head up the new working group to identify ways of reinforcing bilateral economic and commercial ties by exploiting new sources of growth. The interim conclusions from this group are anticipated for June 2012, prior to a final report to be tabled in a year's time.
Whilst waiting for the talks to begin, Froman and De Gucht on Tuesday agreed on a number of initiatives to facilitate bilateral trade and investment. Europeans and Americans agreed on the mutual recognition of secure traders programmes to facilitate flows of trade between the two sides at customs procedures level, whilst guaranteeing maximum security. Once it is up and running in June 2012, the mutual recognition of traders programmes will allow both partners' customs services to focus their resources on real risks, to create greater security within the supply chain.
The transatlantic partners also agreed on a new cooperation plan to draft coherent and compatible standards for electronic vehicles and smart grids and to promote these for adoption by the international authorities. Amongst other things, they signed a letter of intention announcing the creation of two centres for electronic vehicle/smart grid interoperability, one of which will be based at the Argonne National Laboratories in the United States, and the other at the Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy. Several transatlantic pilot projects will also be launched.
The TEC also decided to step up transatlantic cooperation in a number of emerging technologies and innovative sectors, such as nanotechnology and cloud computing. Decision-makers, regulators and standardisation organisations on both sides of the Atlantic are called upon to develop joint approaches to deal with regulatory issues and avoid commercial obstacles linked to the emergence of these new technologies.
The Europeans and Americans also looked into the principles agreed on this year for the trade in information and communication technologies (ICT) and discussed ways of promoting their implementation in bilateral economic relations and their commercial negotiations with third countries.
The parties additionally reviewed the dossier on access to raw materials, and agreed to draft strategies to remove obstacles to trade in these products and improve the climate of investment in the sector, by working on the issues of research and recycling.
Lastly, the transatlantic partners agreed on an action plan 2012 for the involvement of SMEs in international trade, and have undertaken to define common principles early next year for international investment. (EH/transl.fl)