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 The European Commission is trying to finalize a deal on the
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which some
experts say could generate $100 billion a year in additional
economic output on both sides of the Atlantic.
It would eliminate all tariff barriers between the United States and
EU members, which together account for almost half the global
economy.
"I don't believe in the wondrous calculations for economic growth
from (the trade deal) TTIP," said Sigmar Gabriel, also chairman of
Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) which shares power with Chancellor
Angela Merkel's conservatives.
"All the estimates about its impact ... give an impression of voodoo
economics," Gabriel told Focus weekly.
However, Gabriel, who has long expressed reservations about some
aspects of TTIP, said Europe urgently needed a deal.
"Our companies would profit because, with equal standards, they
wouldn't have to go through approval procedures twice."
"Overall, Europe would profit because we could influence the
standards for world trade for the coming 20 or 30 years," he said,
adding without a deal, other countries, including China, would end
up setting environmental and consumer standards.
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Gabriel repeated the SPD's concerns about allowing U.S.
mulitnationals to use so-called investor-to-state dispute settlement
mechanisms to challenge Europe's food, labor and environment laws on
the grounds that they restrict free trade.
The United States will not accept a deal without that.
Asked by Focus when TTIP could be finalised, Gabriel said the view
in Brussels was that hopes a deal could be concluded this year were
very ambitious.
(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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