U.S. and European negotiators will begin secret talks that could bargain away a key element in American resistance to GMO foods. The proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), also referred to as a Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA), will focus on “normalizing” regulatory practices that business interests deem limit trade, including the European approach to genetically modified foods.
In international trade negotiations, most often Americans worry that domestic regulatory protections or special tariffs will be bargained away in the interests of increasing trade overall. In the case of GMO foods, many Americans have exactly the opposite interest–maintaining the regulatory protections of foreign trade partners so that the precautionary approach to GMO foods practiced by Europeans remains intact.
Read the full story here: Will European Requirements for Labeling GMO Foods Survive New Trade Negotiations?
Additional Resources:
- “EU-U.S. Trade: A Tale Of Two Farms,” KKTZ (Texas)
- “Trans-Atlantic trade talks seen as anti-consumer,” Deutsche Welle
