BRUSSELS: Top negotiators on a huge transatlantic trade treaty between the EU and US opened new talks yesterday with the aim to tackle one of the deal’s most controversial aspects.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, under negotiation since July 2013, would create the world’s biggest free trade zone, removing tariffs and harmonizing regulations between the European Union and the US.
EU sources said the negotiators would for the first time discuss in detail a divisive proposal to create an investment protection system that would allow companies to sue governments when they believe their interests have been harmed.
This idea has drawn fierce criticism in Europe, especially in Germany, where hundreds of thousands of people rallied in October to oppose the massive free-trade accord.
The European Commission, which handles trade talks for the EU’s 28 member states, will offer the US an alternative proposal that would involve setting up a special court.
Opponents say TTIP is undemocratic and would lead to reckless deregulation at the expense of ordinary citizens.
The two sides aim to conclude TTIP this year, before the end of the Obama administration in the US. President Barack Obama travels to Germany in April to discuss the deal with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Washington and Brussels are said to be close to a deal on cutting tariffs and barriers on 97 percent of trade between the two sides.
But many thorny issues remain to be discussed, such as European fears about accepting genetically modified crops from US and concerns on limits on data-sharing by global Internet firms.
