Six Degrees of Integration: How Closely Will the TTIP Integrate the Transatlantic Market?

This argument is something of an exaggeration, as many tariffs – some fairly high – remain. Lester S, US-EU Trade Talks: Don’t Forget about the Tariffs, 22 July 2013, http://​www.​cato.​org/​blog/​us-eu-trade-talks-dont-forget-about-tariffs (last accessed 4 August 2015).

Remarks by the President at Meeting with the President’s Export Council, 12 March 2013: “As I announced at the State of the Union address, we’re also going to be launching an effort to lock in a EU-U.S. trade deal as well. And already, Europe is our largest trading partner—the EU as a whole—and we think that we can expand that even further. And some of this has to do with us being able to break down some existing barriers across the Atlantic to U.S. products and services, but some of it also has to do with smoothing out differences in regulatory approaches, just trade frictions that arise that are unnecessary that carries over from earlier periods.”, http://​www.​whitehouse.​gov/​the-press-office/​2013/​03/​12/​remarks-president-meeting-presidents-export-council (last accessed 4 August 2015).

For example, those skeptical of regulation worry that the TTIP will harmonize regulations upwards, whereas those who support more active regulation worry about ‘regulatory chill’ from the TTIP. For the former, see. Bromund TR, TTIP: Small Upside, Big Downside, Heritage Foundation, 19 May 2015, http://​www.​heritage.​org/​research/​commentary/​2015/​5/​ttip-small-upside-big-downside (last accessed 4 August 2015); for the latter, see Siles-Brügge G and Butler N, Beyond the Headlines on TTIP: Beware the Fine Print, Manchester Policy Blog, 1 June 2015, http://​blog.​policy.​manchester.​ac.​uk/​posts/​2015/​06/​beyond-the-headlines-on-ttip-beware-the-fine-print/​ (last accessed 4 August 2015).

Balassa (1961). Along the same lines, Economist Steven Suranovic defines the following types of arrangements for coordinating trade, fiscal, and/or monetary policies: preferential trade agreements, free trade areas, customs unions, common markets, economic unions, and monetary unions. See ‘Economic Integration: Overview’ in Suranovic (1998), http://​internationaleco​n.​com/​Trade/​Tch110/​T110-2.​php (last accessed 4 August 2015).

There is an extensive jurisprudence in the GATT/WTO for identifying when measures are protectionist.

Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015, 12 February 2015, http://​www.​britannica.​com/​EBchecked/​topic/​479643/​protectionism (last accessed 4 August 2015).

Garner and Campbell (2014), p. 1418.

Hinkelman and Putzi (2006), p. 137.

Goode (2007), p. 349.

Financial Times Lexicon. ‘protectionism’ 12 February 2015, http://​markets.​ft.​com/​research/​Lexicon/​Term?​term=​protectionism (last accessed 4 August 2015).

Section 121 of the Constitution Act, 1867. It has been suggested that this provision can already guarantee free trade. James D, Infernal trade barriers: Canada’s constitution already guarantees free-trade between the provinces, Financial Post, 22 July 2014, http://​business.​financialpost.​com/​fp-comment/​infernal-trade-barriers-canadas-constitution-already-guarantees-free-trade-between-the-provinces (last accessed 4 August 2015). In practice, however, that has not been the case. See, e.g., Choudhry (2002), http://​scholarship.​law.​berkeley.​edu/​facpubs/​2240 (last accessed 4 August 2015).

Legal Information Institute, Commerce Clause, “The ‘dormant’ Commerce Clause refers to the prohibition, implied in the Commerce Clause, against states passing legislation that discriminates against or excessively burdens interstate commerce.”, https://​www.​law.​cornell.​edu/​wex/​commerce_​clause (last accessed 4 August 2015).

“The Zollverein […] harmonized weights and measurements as well as standardized the acceptance of multiple currencies in use throughout its territory.” Ploeckl F, The Zollverein and The Formation of A Customs Union, Discussion Papers in Economic and Social History, Number 84, 2010,http://​www.​nuff.​ox.​ac.​uk/​economics/​history/​Paper84/​ploeckl84.​pdf (last accessed 4 August 2015); see also, Henderson (1968), p. 317.

One recent case dealt with regulations in Quebec that prevent the use of the word ‘butter’ on dairy product substitutes. Report of Article 1706.1 Appeal Panel Regarding the Dispute between Saskatchewan and Québec Concerning Dairy Blends, Dairy Analogues and Dairy Alternatives, 26 January 2015. http://​www.​ait-aci.​ca/​en/​dispute/​AIT%20​Final%20​appeal%20​decision%20​jan%20​26.​pdf (last accessed 4 August 2015).

See Geddes J, Taylor-Vaisey N, Home is where the trade barriers are, Maclean’s, 29 October 2013 (“Back in 1994, the federal, provincial and territorial governments signed what’s called the Agreement on Internal Trade, a sort of free trade pact for Canada’s domestic economy. But the AIT hasn’t eliminated a wide range of obstacles. Corporations face separate, unharmonized registration requirements in different provinces. Professionals confront different standards from province to province when it comes to recognizing their qualifications. Consumers in most provinces still can’t order wine from another’s vineyards. Refiners have to mix special batches of ethanol-enhanced gasoline to meet varying provincial rules.”) http://​www.​macleans.​ca/​politics/​home-is-where-the-barriers-are-weve-got-free-trade-with-europe-fantastic-now-how-about-all-those-trade-restrictions-between-the-provinces-2/​ (last accessed 4 August 2015); Lester (2014), p. 61, http://​object.​cato.​org/​sites/​cato.​org/​files/​articles/​lester-internationaleco​nomy-fall-2014.​pdf (last accessed 4 August 2015). See also, CBC News, James Moore pitches changes to interprovincial trade, 20 August 2014, http://​www.​cbc.​ca/​news/​politics/​james-moore-pitches-changes-to-interprovincial-trade-1.​2741641 (last accessed 4 August 2015); McKenna B, Canada’s internal trade barriers must fall, The Globe and Mail, 14 June 2015.

See Flynn D, Egg-Producing States File Appeal Over California’s Proposition 2, Food Safety News, 8 March 2015, http://​www.​foodsafetynews.​com/​2015/​03/​six-egg-producing-states-file-appeal-over-californias-proposition-2/​#.​VVOobflViko (last accessed 4 August 2015).

Lester S, US-EU Trade Talks: Don’t Forget about the Tariffs, 22 July 2013, http://​www.​cato.​org/​blog/​us-eu-trade-talks-dont-forget-about-tariffs (last accessed 4 August 2015).

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman went to Brussels to give a speech on these issues. Remarks by U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on the United States, the European Union, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, 30 September 2013, https://​ustr.​gov/​about-us/​policy-offices/​press-office/​speeches/​transcripts/​2013/​september/​froman-us-eu-ttip (last accessed 4 August 2015); See also, Inside U.S. Trade, Froman Calls On EU Regulators To Be More Like Their U.S. Counterparts, 04 October 2013 (“Froman implicitly criticized the European Commission’s system of issuing preliminary general papers based in advance of issuing proposed rules, and seeking comments on those papers rather than the detailed rules themselves. The commission typically does not have a separate comment period once the actual regulation is promulgated. U.S. federal agencies, by contrast, issue proposed rules and then take comments before issuing a final version.”).

Then EU Trade Commission Karol de Gucht said the following in a speech soon after Ambassador Froman’s remarks: “Neither side will be successful if it seeks to impose its system on the other.”, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)—Solving the Regulatory Puzzle, 10 October 2013, http://​trade.​ec.​europa.​eu/​doclib/​docs/​2013/​october/​tradoc_​151822.​pdf (last accessed 4 August 2015). See also, Inside U.S. Trade, EU Official Pushes Back Against USTR Criticism Of Brussels Rulemaking, 04 October 2013.

Inside U.S. Trade, EU Official Pushes Back Against USTR Criticism Of Brussels Rulemaking, 04 October 2013.

See, e.g., European Commission, Ensuring transparency in EU-US trade talks: EU publishes negotiating positions in five more areas, 14 May 2014 (“The papers released today include proposals for enhancing the compatibility of each other’s existing rules and regulations, or working more closely together in setting them in future, in five sectors:

1. Chemicals

2. Cosmetics

3. Pharmaceutical products

4. Motor vehicles

5. Textiles and clothing

In each sector, the papers focus on ways we can:

• end the unnecessary duplication of product testing or plant inspections

• recognise each other's existing regulations, or bring them more closely together

• align our respective procedures for approving or registering new products.”)

Inside U.S. Trade, FDA Seeks To Sever EU Regulatory Cooperation Efforts From TTIP Talks, 18 July 2014. There are also concerns about the impact on regulation by U.S. states: “Sharon Treat, a former state representative in Maine, said she believes the EU proposal would have a chilling effect on states’ ability to regulate. She expressed doubt that underfunded, overstretched state agencies would have the ability to respond to the European Commission's request for information on how a particular regulation is crafted.” Inside U.S. Trade, TTIP Negotiators Create Joint Text On Regulatory Cooperation, Discuss TBT, 30 April 2015.

Trindle J and Fairless T, U.S. Wants Financial Services Off Table in EU Trade Talks, Wall Street Journal, 15 July 2013, http://​www.​wsj.​com/​articles/​SB10001424127887​3233945045786078​41246434144 (last accessed 4 August 2015).

“[S]ome non-American carmakers have developed sophisticated car headlights that adjust automatically in response to surroundings. While these headlights are available in Europe and other places, they have not been approved for sale in the United States.” Lester S, Transatlantic Regulatory Trade Barriers, Huffington Post, www.​huffingtonpost.​com/​simon-lester/​transatlantic-regulatory-trade-barriers_​b_​3580900.​html (last accessed 4 August 2015).

One estimate is that harmonization of auto regulations would increase US-EU auto trade by at least 20 %, resulting in national income gains for both partners together of over $20 billion per year in the long run. Freund C and Oliver S, Gains from Harmonizing US and EU Auto Regulations under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Peterson Institute for Economics Policy Brief, June 2015, http://​www.​piie.​com/​publications/​pb/​pb15-10.​pdf, p. 17.

Nelson A, EU dropped pesticide laws due to US pressure over TTIP, documents reveal, The Guardian, 22 May 2015, http://​www.​theguardian.​com/​environment/​2015/​may/​22/​eu-dropped-pesticide-laws-due-to-us-pressure-over-ttip-documents-reveal (last accessed 4 August 2015).

Letter from Walls M, Vice President of Regulatory & Technical Affairs at the American Chemistry Council, and Glenn B, Vice President of Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife America, to Jim Jones, Acting Assistant Administrator at the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, “RE: Consideration of Endocrine Disruptors in the EU.” 3 December 2012, http://​www.​americanchemistr​y.​com/​Policy/​Chemical-Safety/​Endocrine-Disruption/​ACC-CropLife-America-Letter.​pdf (last accessed 25 February 2016).

Office of the United States Trade Representative, Proposal for Categorization of Compounds as Endocrine Disruptors from 2014 Report on Technical Barriers to Trade, April 2014, pp. 68–70, https://​ustr.​gov/​sites/​default/​files/​2014%20​TBT%20​Report.​pdf (last accessed 4 August 2015).