US Must Offer Concessions to Conclude Successful TTIP, Cato Scholar Says

A successful Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will require U.S. negotiators to agree to repeal Jones Act shipping competition policies and to give up some restrictions on commercial air travel and government procurement projects, said Dan Ikenson, director of the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, in a blog post (here). So far in TTIP negotiations, the U.S. “hasn’t budged an inch” toward any trade liberalization in those areas, he said. “Until that is no longer the case, the TTIP should be considered a failure,” Ikenson wrote. After Brexit’s aftereffects and some of the political controversy surrounding trade and TTIP de-intensifies, the U.S. and the EU should approach the negotiating table willing to liberalize all bilateral trade, “including sacred cows,” Ikenson said. Upping the ante will bring a higher level of interest, excitement and leverage needed to conclude a solid trade agreement, he said.