Another day, another outraged world leader. The NSA was caught listening in on Angela Merkel's cell phone much in the way the crooks at Murdoch's News of the World (now standing trial in a British courtroom) hacked into the phones of celebrities, politicians and teenage crime victims.
But there is one good thing coming out of the NSA embroglio. It is endangering the U.S.-EU trade agreement currently being negotiated behind closed doors with some 600 U.S. industry advisers. New revelations that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is one of the NSA's "clients" will further complicate negotiations set to resume in Brussels Monday, November 11th.
Although proponents of the pact like to talk about reducing tariffs, facilitating trade and creating jobs, in actuality the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has little to do with these traditional trade topics. Bound by the longstanding World Trade Organization agreements, the U.S. and the EU have practically nonexistent tariffs and enjoy a robust trade relationship topping $1 trillion a year. Moreover, according to the number crunchers at the Economic Policy Institute, the pact is projected to result in a U.S. job loss of some 700,000 and a deeper trade deficit with the EU.
What the TTIP is all about is locking in a deregulatory regime that threatens some of the best consumer and environmental laws on both sides of the Atlantic.
At a recent meeting in Brussels with top U.S. and European TTIP negotiators, including Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Dan Mullaney and Ignacio Garcia Bercero of the European Commission's Directorate General for Trade, consumer advocates from both sides of the Atlantic demanded answers.
Read more: NSA Spying Scandal Roils US-EU Trade Negotiations | Mary Bottari
But there is one good thing coming out of the NSA embroglio. It is endangering the U.S.-EU trade agreement currently being negotiated behind closed doors with some 600 U.S. industry advisers. New revelations that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is one of the NSA's "clients" will further complicate negotiations set to resume in Brussels Monday, November 11th.
Although proponents of the pact like to talk about reducing tariffs, facilitating trade and creating jobs, in actuality the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has little to do with these traditional trade topics. Bound by the longstanding World Trade Organization agreements, the U.S. and the EU have practically nonexistent tariffs and enjoy a robust trade relationship topping $1 trillion a year. Moreover, according to the number crunchers at the Economic Policy Institute, the pact is projected to result in a U.S. job loss of some 700,000 and a deeper trade deficit with the EU.
What the TTIP is all about is locking in a deregulatory regime that threatens some of the best consumer and environmental laws on both sides of the Atlantic.
At a recent meeting in Brussels with top U.S. and European TTIP negotiators, including Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Dan Mullaney and Ignacio Garcia Bercero of the European Commission's Directorate General for Trade, consumer advocates from both sides of the Atlantic demanded answers.
Read more: NSA Spying Scandal Roils US-EU Trade Negotiations | Mary Bottari
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