Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

Categories: International, Econ

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a free trade agreement between the U.S. and the European Union. Each player has a GDP in the $20 trillion range, two of the largest producers in the world. Yep, that makes TTIP the largest bilateral trade agreement ever (if it passes, which, at the time of this writing...it hasn't).

TTIP proposals were being negotiated until U.S. Prez Donald Trump started a trade diff with the EU. Trump is more of a protectionist kind of guy.

TTIP deets are classified for now, but we still have some info. The European Commission was nice enough to let the world in on its analysis. It estimates that TTIP would boost the EU’s economy $135 billion, and the U.S.’s economy by $102 billion.
The rest of the world stands to benefit too; it should boost everyone else’s economy by a combined $113 billion. Not to mention all those jobs.

Meanwhile, Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in the U.S. estimates the effects on actual households would be “meh.” He says that the report from the EU is glamorizing TTIP’s potential, because it would benefit from it. Baker sees TTIP as a win for powerful industry lobbies to walk around federal regulations, which can be more harmful than helpful for the general public.



Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)