Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

realitykeeper

By my reckoning the desired Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a dead duck. In fact, even the existing trade between the EU and US looks set to decline due to uncompetitive practices on both sides of the Atlantic. First the US gave a stupendous fine to Volkswagen and followed this up with a similar fine on Deutche Bank. The EU immediately retaliated by fining Apple a similar amount to the amount the Americans fined Deutsch Bank.

Yesterday I read that the EU had warned Google to expect a large fine (presumably in retaliation for the Volkswagen fine). All these fines have their "legitimate" reasons of course but it is looking a lot like the EU and US are issuing tit for tat fines on each other`s companies. This does not bode well for a US/EU trade agreement.

By contrast, intra African trade looks set to grow rapidly in the coming years. Could all this be part of a major global reset?

ancapailldorcha

With the rise of anti-free trade populists in several of the world's largest economies, I'd say anything remotely like TTIP is at least a few decades away. Even Hillary Clinton has been forced to denounce the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that she had previously supported.

Africa has significant corruption issues to overcome before it becomes anywhere near as big as the EU. It's definitely worth watching though.