Confederation of Danish : The United States hopes to finalise the free trade agreement within a year

Af Kathrine Læsøe Engberg mail

The last week of February sees the 12th round of negotiations on the free trade agreement between Europe and the United States (TTIP) commence in Brussels. Negotiations have now been on-going for approximately six months and, seen from a European perspective, things are going sluggishly.

American Assistant Secretary of State Charles H. Rivkin visited the Confederation of Danish Industry on Monday and had lunch with a number of top executives from major Danish corporations such as ISS, Leo-Pharma, Terma, Radiometer, FOSS, Mærsk and Haldor-Topsøe as well as with the US ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford and the Deputy Director General of the Confederation of Danish Industry Thomas Bustrup. At a press conference following the meeting, Charles H. Rivkin emphasised that he is patient as far as the trade agreement goes.

'Time does not dictate agreements. A trade agreement will be signed when a solid wording that suits both Europe and the United States has been drawn up. But I am hopeful about the progress of these negotiations so that we will not only achieve the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership - ed.), but also sign an agreement on TTIP during Obama's term of office,' said Charles H. Rivkin.

Close relationship with Europe

Charles H. Rivkin hopes that the TTIP negotiations will not take as many years as the TPP negotiations have. Only after seven years' negotiations did the United States sign a free trade agreement with Peru, Mexico, Canada, Vietnam, Chile, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and Brunei in October 2015.

On the subject of TIPP, the American Assistant Secretary of State added that a number of other countries see the benefits of fewer trade barriers and have signalled their interest in participating.
But Charles H. Rivkin also pointed out that this does not change the relationship with Europe - and the desire to sign a free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union.

'Europe is our oldest ally and the EU and the United States are the two largest economies in the world. We have a long-standing shared history and it would be crazy for us to turn our backs on each other. I hope we will never be forced to do that,' said Charles H. Rivkin.

Public sector projects

One of the biggest hurdles in the coming TTIP negotiations is the question of public sector procurement. While American businesses have full access to bidding on contracts within the EU, European companies do not have full access to doing the same thing in the United States - as in certain states a number of contracts are reserved for American businesses.

Charles H. Rivkin's response to the question of public sector procurement did not immediately indicate a change in the stance the United States is taking to this issue.

'I think that many myths that need clarifying surround TTIP. As far as public sector procurement is concerned, the number of possible contracts that the European companies are able to bid on is approximately double the number in the United States as it is for American companies in Europe. So it is factually incorrect that European businesses do not have the opportunity to bid for public sector contracts in the United States,' said Charles H. Rivkin and continued:

'But the issue of public sector procurement is one of the things that will be negotiated in the coming months. I hope that the TTIP process does not founder because the parties are focusing on limitations instead of opportunities.'