Brussels, 07/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - The fourth round of negotiations between the EU and the United States for a transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) will be held in Brussels from 10 to 14 March (see EUROPE 11029). The negotiators will get to the heart of the matter, with discussions on: trade in services, public procurement, rules of origin, technical barriers to trade, agriculture and customs and trade facilitation.
The negotiators will discuss some highly sensitive issues: market access, services and public procurement. They will debate the proposed texts. The two sides exchanged offers on market access on 10 February. The American offer has been described by the European party as disappointing.
Further to a meeting on 18 February with the American Trade Representative, Mike Froman, the European Trade Commissioner, Karel De Gucht, said that the American offer lacked ambition. The Americans are believed to be working on an improved version of their offer (see EUROPE 11027).
Access to the goods market is based around a reduction in customs duty. The EU believes that the American offer is weak, given the number of American tariff lines which are to be removed, as of right, once the agreement enters into force, and the number of tariff lines which will be removed after a transitional period of three or seven years. In all categories, the EU is calling for more ambition.
The EU is being ambitious on customs duties and expects the same level of ambition on the trade in services and public procurement.
On public procurement, the EU would like European companies to be able to tender in the same way as American ones for public procurement contracts in the United States, particularly at state level. One stumbling block will be the Buy American Act, which obliges the federal government to buy goods produced in the United States. Next week, De Gucht will open a public consultation into the provisions of the TTIP concerning the investor-state dispute settlement procedure. The two sides hope to meet twice more before the summer break, and the EU/United States summit will be held on 26 March.
Stakeholders. In parallel, on Wednesday 12 March, the EU will hold a series of meetings for the stakeholders (businesses, labour, environment and consumer associations). (LC)