TTIP and the post-Bali WTO: Towards a new world trade order?

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) offers through a regional trade agreement the allure of a partnership among nations accounting for almost fifty per cent of global economic output. In addition to increasing trade between the European and the United States, the TTIP could positively influence future WTO trade negotiations (which have been stalled since 2008), towards a new form of economic governance, in part by dealing with the issues most pertinent to encouraging trade expansion in today’s interconnected world, such as regulatory coherence, supply chain management, anti-competition law, and investment. The chapter addresses the potential impact of the TTIP, if it can be successfully concluded, not only on the bilateral EU-United States relationship, but also on future WTO multilateral trade negotiations, on the parties’ other trading partners and, ultimately, on the rules that will govern international trade in the twenty-first century, whether within or outside the WTO framework.