Standards set in TPP – a template for future agreements?
From an economic perspective, the TPP is likely to affect Europe in two ways.
First, the standards set in TPP might serve as a template for future trade deals and over time become widely accepted. This could be problematic for European countries in cases where the new standards set in TPP differ significantly from those currently in place in Europe. In particular, it might affect negotiations of TTIP, a trade agreement that is currently being negotiated between Europe and the US.
TTIP has sparked large-scale protests in many European countries as concerns over the negative consequences of possible new standards, some stricter and some less strict than current European ones, have intensified.
One area of TTIP in which Europe might have to accept stricter standards despite public opposition relates to its heavily criticised intellectual property regulations. These go beyond current international standards, including the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, and might even require changes to copyright legislation in some countries covered by the deal.
Conversely, setting social and environmental standards in TPP that are weaker than those currently in place in Europe might put pressure on European governments to accept lower standards in future trade deals such as TTIP as well. These examples illustrate the danger that, in the future Europe might be given little choice but to accept the standards set elsewhere without being involved in negotiation processes.