Recently there is a new acronym appears quite often in the news headlines – TTIP which is stands for Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

The TTIP is a series of trade negotiations being carried out between EU and US to make trade easier.

As it follows it will be beneficial mostly to big businesses and large corporations as it is mainly them who trades outside of these countries’ borders.

One could probably assume that this agreement is created to reduce the tariffs between these two nations and this how it is presented to the media.

However, as the tariffs are already at their minimum, there is much more to it.

The bilateral agreement also deals with reducing regulatory barriers to encourage more trade.

The regulations for the matters like food safety, environment and banking laws are very much differentiate between EU and the US. The process, which began last February is known to be made in secret and away from much media attention.

Nevertheless the issue spread very fast leading top many protests within the EU.

TTIP isn’t for Consumers?

The reasons that this partnership maybe not that beneficial to the consumer are the following.

First of all the matter will lead to lowering of the food safety standards, so to bring the highly regulated EU market with that of is very flexible US.

It is estimated that 70% of the US food sold in the supermarkets are Genetically Modified products, which is scientifically proven to bring various health damages to a person.

As for now these foods are strictly forbidden for sale in Europe, but it might be not in the distant future when these borders will be dropped.

Standards are also expected to be harmonized for Pharmaceutical, Energy and Clothing industries.

The issues such as privacy will also likely to be affected, since it is expected that some parts of the previously rejected ACTA agreement will be brought into force.

The matter will also be likely influence jobs sector within the EU, as the trade Unions are much stronger here.

With the introduction of the Investor State Dispute Settlements (ISDS), will lead to EU Democracy to be at risk too, as it will allow the international companies to sue governments, whose laws lead to the loss of profit.