TTIP Threatens Financial Market Regulation

In an open letter to representatives of the EU and the US, the 52 organisations from the US and the EU, including consumer advocates, trade unions and other non-governmental organisations, criticise the fact that the planned EU-US trade agreement threatens the regulation of financial markets.

The letter states that a trade agreement such as TTIP is not the right place to discuss financial market regulation. It is also wrong to continue to rely on the type of deregulation that is already familiar from world trade law in the GATS agreement and led to the financial crisis. The possible introduction of arbitration bodies for investor-state complaints is also criticised in particular.

Markus Henn, financial markets officer at WEED, explains: "The German government has now recognised in the CETA agreement with Canada that trade agreements can prevent states from adequately combating financial crises. This problem is just as present in TTIP, but the German government has not yet said how it intends to deal with it in TTIP."