Geopolitical Determinants of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Keywords: geopolitics, US, EU, TTIP, international agreement, trade policy

Abstract

The article considers the international factors shaping the negotiations of the TTIP trade agreement between the US and the EU. The rise of the economic power of the United States after World War II and the European Union after its creation in the 1990s is discussed first. The various elements of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, around which the various negotiating rounds took place, will be discussed. They are very ambitious and were intended to economically bind the area on both sides of the Atlantic. The most important of these is to point out the trade specificities of the transatlantic partners and clearly show the differences in US and EU legislation in this regard. The presentation of state immunity is intended to describe the difficulties that individual European Union member states faced in the context of approving the agreement. It accrues to the state as a subject of international law, being an attribute of its sovereignty and independence. It is not subject to limitation by another state, and any limitation of immunity or waiver of immunity can only take place with the consent of the state in question. The last issue discussed is a rearrangement of the various lobbying groups that regularly interacted with the European Commission negotiating with the U.S. side. The largest and most prominent multinational corporations and companies have representation in prominent lobbying groups. Their pressure on the bodies representing the United States and the European Union alike is very influential, hence a conclusion can be drawn that in the negotiations regarding the Transatlantic Partnership, private interests prevail over representatives of the public interest. Internationally, such arrangements could strengthen the position of the U.S. and the EU in important ways, but consumers could face many risks.

Published
2023-06-29
How to Cite
Sokołowski, M. (2023). Geopolitical Determinants of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The Ignatianum Philosophical Yearbook, 29(2), 173-196. https://doi.org/10.35765/rfi.2023.2902.11
Section
Articles