US, EU Float New TTIP Customs Proposal, Target Duty Cuts on 97 Percent of Goods

U.S. and European Union negotiations proposed new offers on customs and trade facilitation provisions for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership over recent days during high-level talks in Miami, said the two officials tasked with leading those negotiations on an Oct. 23 conference call. Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Dan Mullaney and EU Trade Directorate General Ignacio Garcia Bercero didn’t elaborate on the terms of the offers, and USTR staffers didn’t respond for further comment.

The two sides also floated rules of origin and technical barrier offers, as well as market access proposals that would eliminate duties on 97 percent of tariff lines, the officials said. “The more sensitive three percent of tariff lines, which are not yet in the offer … those can only be discussed at the later stages when we enter in what I would call the ‘end game,’” said Bercero. “When that time will be … I think it’s a little bit early to say at this point in time.”

Mullaney and Bercero called for a conclusion to TTIP negotiations by the end of the Obama administration. “To this end, U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador [Michael] Froman and EU Trade Commissioner [Cecilia] Malmstrom met on Sept. 22 in Washington to review the status of the negotiations and they agreed on the need to accelerate work in all areas to achieve the goal of completing TTIP in 2016,” said Mullaney.

Meanwhile, dozens of unions, led by the AFL-CIO, and advocacy groups urged Froman to ramp up TTIP transparency in an Oct. 22 letter. The groups applauded the EU disclosure in January of its TTIP textual proposals (see 1501090024). “If the EU is willing to publish its textual proposals, there is no reason why the U.S. cannot immediately release its own textual proposals as well,” said the letter (here). “This significant change from present practice would be a major step toward the release of composite draft texts after each round. It would also help produce trade negotiations guided by the principles of democracy, transparency, and political accountability.”