New Report: TTIP Poses Significant 'Risks and Almost No Benefit'

A proposed EU-U.S. trade deal shows lots of risks and almost no benefit, according to an official assessment commissioned by the U.K. government.

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Documents obtained by Global Justice Now through the Freedom of Information law revealed that the U.K.’s only assessment of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, concluded that there is no upside or benefit to a measure that would allow corporations to sue governments.

The 2013 study, which had been commissioned by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills found that “an EU-U.S. investment treaty would impose costs on the U.K. to the extent that it prevents the U.K. government from regulating in the public interest.”

The corporate court system, or "investor protection," would allow corporations to file legal claims against a country in an international arbitration court and provide them with the right to demand compensation for government actions that affect corporate profits.

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“Introducing a system of secret corporate courts under TTIP would be a fundamental shift in trade and legal policies, so it’s staggering that the government is pushing us into it with almost no assessment of what the risks are for our policy makers or the tax payer.” Nick Dearden, the director of Global Justice Now said.

According to a 2015 report carried out by the European Commission, nearly 88 percent of Europeans who responded to an online public consultation on the proposed free trade agreement between the EU and the United States rejected investment protection provisions.

TTIP opponents argue that the deal, like the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, would strengthen transnational corporate power at the expense of the democracy and the public good, food safety, public health, consumer rights and environmental protection.