Full Title: Considerations for the Treatment of Energy in the US-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
Author(s): Keith Benes
Publisher(s): The Lugar Center
Publication Date: September 1, 2015
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
While the negotiations between the United States and the European Union for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have not received as much US press attention as the proposed US-Pacific basin TransPacific Partnership (TTP) has, the two deals are of a similar magnitude and importance in terms of total global GDP and trade potentially at issue.
One key issue that has emerged from the TTIP negotiations is a disagreement over whether to include a separate chapter on energy. The European Union favors such a chapter, in hopes it would help it secure access to increasing production of US oil and natural gas and potentially serve as a set of model trade-in-energy provisions that would help in negotiations with other countries, particularly those to its East. Highly dependent on Russian oil and natural gas, the EU has been looking for ways to diversify its supply base. The United States has not outright opposed such a chapter, but has indicated skepticism that it is necessary.