Dan Drezner and other "eminent persons" have put together a report on transatlantic trade and investment. Some of their recommendations:
A new stakeholder driven bottom-up initiative on tariffs and NTBs.
Bilateral work on eliminating tariffs and addressing non-tariff measures should proceed based on decentralized government consultations with business associations, labor unions, consumers and other stakeholders from both sides of the Atlantic. The ambitious agenda should be based on the principle of zero for zero tariff elimination and a sectoral approach to NTBs. The aim should also be to put into place a mechanism to avoid future regulatory divergences
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A comprehensive transatlantic investment agreement
The EU and the U.S. should lay the groundwork to launch negotiations on a transatlantic investment agreement at an appropriate time in the future. The political decision to launch negotiations should be based on a mandate for policymakers to negotiate a deep and comprehensive investment agreement, which improves market access for foreign investors by removing existing restrictions. It should assure non-discrimination of foreign investors, free transfers and protection in case of expropriation. It should also include provisions on procedures for state-investor dispute settlement. An investment initiative is particularly timely given the centralization of EU investment policy as a result of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty.
The U.S. and EU are always (to some extent) pushing free trade with other countries. What exactly is holding back EU-U.S. free trade? If free trade is good, why isn't free trade with big trading partners the focus? Is it just that there are too many industries and groups who will be adversely affected? Is there a clash of views on what free trade agreements should like? Something else?
