Brittan bids to revive plan for transatlantic trade liberalisation

Date: 10/09/1998

By Simon Taylor

TRADE Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan will seek to inject fresh impetus into his drive to liberalise transatlantic trade in an action plan due to be unveiled next week.

The plan for a new Transatlantic Economic Partnership (TEP) will set out areas where the EU and the US could work towards dismantling trade barriers in manufacturing, services and agriculture.

The new proposals are a scaled-down version of the New Transatlantic Market-place plan which was shot down by French opposition to farm trade liberalisation earlier this year.

Brittan will present the proposals to his Commission colleagues at a meeting next Wednesday (16 September) and hopes to win EU governments' support for the plan in time for the next transatlantic summit in December.

Under the action plan, the EU and the US would work together to remove barriers between the world's two biggest trading blocs as well as joining forces in international bodies such as the World Trade Organisation to foster greater global liberalisation.

The plan also contains proposals for a framework designed to avoid a repeat of past trade disputes between the EU and US over food safety issues ranging from genetically-modified crops to US poultry and hormone-treated meat. An "early dialogue" system would be set up to reach a "common understanding" on what are often very technical issues.

Commission officials also expect to make progress in bilateral talks on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications for architects and engineers.

On government procurement, the aim is to move towards ensuring that US companies can tender for EU projects and vice versa. Brittan will also propose setting up a transatlantic group to work on environmental issues.

Intellectual property rights, electronic commerce, services and labour standards are among the other areas targeted for greater cooperation under the plan.

Brittan also hopes that his initiative will give new impetus to the stalled talks on a second round of global liberalisation of Information Technology products (ITA II).

Brittan's staff are optimistic that the plan will be approved without major objections from other Commissioners. A source close to the trade supremo said that it only outlined areas where work towards liberalisation could take place and did not represent a formal negotiating position at this stage.

Brittan told the European Parliament's EU-US delegation this week that the action plan would "provide new economic opportunities" for both sides, and dismissed suggestions that the crises in Russia and Asia made it the wrong time to move ahead with further liberalisation. "Events in the wider world do not render this cooperation more inappropriate but more necessary," he said.

EU Trade Commissioner Brittan wants to establish a new 'Transatlantic Economic Partnership' (TEP).