Andrew Clark is director of policy at the NFU. He explains the challenges facing TTIP and the role of the NFU in the negotiations, following a recent visit to the US alongside NFU President Meurig Raymond.
He writes:
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This is why for the third time in the last six years, the NFU President has travelled to the States to gauge opinion and contrast priorities. These visits are an excellent way of gathering first-hand what US politicians and officials are thinking, and doing. It is said that 'that travel broadens the mind', and on the evidence of the past five days in the US I'd agree.
Our main reason for travelling was to understand US priorities for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Only a fortnight before our visit, talks in Miami concluded on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, in discussion since 2008 (see Lucia Zitti's briefing).
While the key people on the EU and US sides feel there is a TTIP “deal to be done”, the vibe was it probably won’t be done under an Obama Presidency.
The TTIP trade deal is clearly a major prize for President Obama's embattled administration, but on the evidence we heard, ratification by a clearly sceptical Republican-led Congress will be far from certain. When we met House of Representatives Agriculture Committee advisers, they made it clear that President Obama will need to work very hard to press the agreement home.
While there is ‘relative’ confidence around bilateral trade agreements, that can’t be said for the World Trade Organisation’s Doha discussions which resume in Nairobi next month. US negotiators regard chances of a comprehensive Doha ‘Development Agreement’ as “pretty weak right now”. Indeed they question whether it is still relevant, given the influence that the BRIC countries now have on world agricultural trade.
US strategy seems to prefer trading block agreements such as TPP, but while the key people on the EU and US sides feel there is a TTIP “deal to be done”, the vibe was it probably won’t be done under an Obama Presidency.