The Biggest Trade Deal Ever: U.S., Europe Head Into Negotiations

On July 8, 29 countries—the U.S. plus 28 countries of the EU—will begin negotiating The Biggest Trade Deal Ever. (France is threatening to delay the start of the talks over allegations that the U.S. spied on EU offices in the U.S. and Europe.) The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will affect 30 percent of global commerce, eliminate $10.5 billion in tariffs, and boost trade by an estimated $280 billion a year. European Union and U.S. industries are sending wish lists to the negotiators, who want a pact by the end of 2014. That’s optimistic: Talks will likely take years, and the treaty must be ratified by legislatures on both sides of the Atlantic. The U.S.’s last major trade deal, with Korea, began in 2006 and didn’t conclude until 2011.

Agriculture
Commodities
The EU limits imports of genetically modified foods, rules that U.S. farm groups are pushing to scrap.
Chicken
The U.S. poultry industry and companies including Campbell Soup want to overturn EU rules blocking imports of U.S. chickens that are rinsed in chemicals. Only 2 percent of all U.S. poultry exports go to the EU.
Champagne
U.S. winemakers in existence before 2006 can use “champagne” on their labels under an older trade agreement the industry hopes to keep in place.
Cranberries
Fruit growers and manufacturers such as Ocean Spray want the EU to relax rules limiting imports of products treated with pesticides.
Tobacco
Companies including Philip Morris International and Universal Corp. want to make sure the talks don’t put greater regulations on the crop.
Beef
U.S. ranchers and meat processors want the EU to lift a ban on ractopamine, a drug fed to cattle to make meat leaner. A concession may nudge the U.S. to allow imports of some EU beef—fears of mad cow disease have kept it out for more than a decade.