Cato Events Podcast

The TTIP and other mega-regional trade negotiations have been garnering attention for both their potential to liberalize trade and their potentially adverse impacts on the existing multilateral trading system. This panel will discuss the implications of the TTIP for the World Trade Organization and its member states. It will include discussion of the prospects for multilateralization of TTIP's provisions; accession by other WTO members, the potential impact on the WTO dispute settlement body, prospects for developing countries, and the implications for U.S. and EU relations with the big economies left out of these deals — such as China and Brazil — if the TTIP succeeds in writing a new gold-standard of trade rules.

Moderated by: Joakim Reiter, UN Conference on Trade and Development

Vinod Aggarwal, University of California, Berkeley
Joost Pauwelyn, Georgetown University Law Center
Harsha Singh, International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development

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It is clear that the first tank of gas on the road to TTIP has run out. So where do we go from here? This panel will discuss the state of the negotiations, describe what lies ahead, and ask whether the United States and the EU have bitten off more than they can chew. If the negotiations were less ambitious in scope, would a final agreement be more achievable? Are there alternative architectures worth considering? Should we abandon the "single undertaking" approach and instead aim for a series of annual or biannual agreements? Should we consider including other countries that are closely integrated with the United States and the EU — such as Canada, Mexico, and Turkey — in the negotiations? If an agreement as currently proposed is achievable, what will it take to make it happen? And after such an agreement is reached, how daunting will the ratification processes be? What will it take to get to the final stage implementation?

Moderated by: Inu Barbee, Georgetown University

Michelle Egan, American University
John Gillingham, Harvard University Center for European Studies
Gary Hufbauer, Peterson Institute

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What is at stake in these negotiations? Why are some issues more difficult to resolve than others, and how can compromise be reached? This panel will identify the low-hanging fruit, the sacred cows, and everything in between to provide a better understanding of the issues under negotiation, from the easiest to most difficult and consequential. Given the comprehensive nature of the agreement, there is room for debate on a number of topics, such as regulatory coherence, investor-state dispute settlement, privacy and data flows, financial services, government procurement, agriculture, services, labor and the environment, and, of course, tariffs. So what exactly is on the table, and what positions, if any, have both sides taken?

Moderated by: Dan Ikenson, Cato Institute

Susan Aaronson, George Washington University
Axel Berger, German Development Institute
Marjorie Chorlins, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Celeste Drake, AFL-CIO
Iana Dreyer, Borderlex
Fredrik Erixon, ECIPE

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The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations were launched to great fanfare in mid-2013 with the pronouncement that a comprehensive deal would be reached by the end of 2014 on a "single tank of gas." But after more than two years and 10 rounds of negotiations, an agreement is nowhere in sight and substantive differences remain between the parties. Despite a retreat from the original level of ambition, skepticism is mounting on both sides of the Atlantic that a deal will be reached anytime soon. What are the prospects for fulfilling the promise of a comprehensive trade and investment deal between the United States and the European Union? What exactly is under negotiation, and what is the strategy for advancing those negotiations? Would it make sense to exclude sacred-cow issues that will only bog down the negotiations? Is it wise to continue pursuing a single comprehensive deal for all issues on the table, or is it better to aim for a sequence of smaller agreements? Should a deal include other closely integrated countries, such as Canada, Mexico, and Turkey? How will TTIP affect the multilateral trading system, relations with the BRICS countries, and prospects for developing countries?

Those and many other questions will be addressed through panel presentations, roundtable discussions, and debates by more than 30 trade experts from around the world at a conference hosted by the Cato Institute.

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Despite today’s polarized political atmosphere, it is possible to construct an ambitious and highly promising agenda of pro-growth policy reform that would command support across the ideological spectrum. Such an agenda would focus on policies whose primary effect is to inflate the incomes and wealth of the rich, the powerful, and the well-established by shielding them from market competition.

Excessive monopoly privileges granted under copyright and patent law, restrictions on high-skilled immigration, protection of incumbent service providers under occupational licensing, and artificial scarcity created by land-use regulation are four such examples.

Rolling back these types of regulations is the low hanging fruit of pro-growth reform. Unfortunately that fruit is guarded by “dragons”—the powerful interest groups that benefit from the status quo and can be expected to defend it tenaciously.

Join us to discuss why this fight needs to be waged and won in order to reverse the deterioration in America’s long-term growth outlook.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.