PM unites with business in call for ambitious EU-US trade deal
The PM discussed free trade between the European Union and the United States with European business leaders at a CBI event in Brussels.
The Prime Minister has today, 18 December 2014, joined European business groups and international companies at a Confederation of British Industry (CBI) event in Brussels to discuss trade between the European Union and the United States.
With leaders from Spain, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Finland and Latvia, the meeting took place on the day the CBI published a report making clear and important arguments for a Free Trade Agreement between the EU and US. The business organisation also urged European national governments to deliver the agreement which could create thousands of jobs across Europe.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) – would inject £100 billion into the European economy every year and the CBI report highlights the benefit to business and consumers, with the potential for new jobs to be created both in the UK and in the US.
Speaking at the CBI event, the Prime Minister said:
Today’s meeting brings together European leaders, business leaders and businesses large and small as well as US owned businesses to discuss the importance of TTIP. The world needs growth, Europe needs growth, and what we need to see is jobs, investment, start-ups and trade taking place.
One area that’s unconstrained is what we can do in structural reforms and trade, and TTIP could be a free boost to the European economy. What we’re talking about is potentially the biggest trade deal in history, worth over £100 billion to the European Union economy alone.
The three things I think we need are impetus and momentum towards a comprehensive deal as well as powerful examples of what this could mean in terms of jobs, price reductions to help families and consumers, and examples of the difficulties of trading into the United States under the current arrangements. Finally, we need to bust some of the myths about what this trade deal might do. This trade deal has no risks for publicly owned and provided services, like the health service and there aren’t the risks that some people are putting forward.
If we can get out of this meeting a sense of momentum, a sense that businesses are going to work together across Europe to find really good examples about the importance of this deal and the benefits it will bring, and if we can agree to bust the myths that some people are putting around about these deals I think we’ll make some good progress.