TTIP talks close to collapse?

Students who are about to start their second year of Economics A Levels should gear themselves up for looking at a much more global viewpoint on macro economics and trade. Brexit may have thrown a new spanner into the works wfor students considering the complexities of international trade but it would seem that another recent example of trade agreements, the TTIP, has also hit a rocky patch.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is meant to be a new set of free trade agreements between the USA and the EU. Negotiations have been taking place for a few years and, it would appear, little has been agreed. For example, one area of difficulty has included genetic modification of food - with the EU taking a much harder line than the US with regards to its regulation. It would seem that both sides are unwilling to move on issues of this nature.

With Obama's administration coming to an end this year and Britain's exit of the EU looming, it would seem that chances to jump over the hurdle's put in place by the negotiators involved are becoming limited.

The stalled trade agreement gives us some analysis opportunities. Does the fact that agreement between an extended group of countries has been so hard to find give credence to the argument that the UK will have more success outside of the EU? Or does it suggest that the UK will have even less influence during negotiations now that it is a single country with a smaller market than the combined might of the EU when negotiating with super economies like the US?

The video below gives an insight on the negotiations from a US news agency: