Business, Freight News

TTIP back on track

[ June 18, 2015   //   Chris ]

The House of Representatives voted narrowly to pass the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill on 18 June. It effectively reverses the setback suffered by the measure in Congress on 12 June when a coalition of left-wing Democrats and right-wing Republicans voted to terminate the trade adjustment assistance (TAA) programme.
House leaders separated the TPA bill from a Senate version which included a Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) package to renew a program to help workers hurt by trade. The Senate is expected to take up the measure for a vote early next week.
TPA means that trade deals like the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific partnership can not be amended by Congress, but are instead have been subject to a simple yes or no vote, greatly speeding up the process of agreeing the sometimes controversial legislation.
The American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI) said it “reacted with cheers” to the passage of the legislation.
However, TTIP has also run into problems on the other side of the Atlantic; a European Parliament vote has had to be delayed due to disagreements over investor protection rules and talks are now expected to drag on past the end-2015 deadline into 2016.

Tags: TTIP