{"id":28576,"title":"The newly launched EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) \u2013 What is it all about, and what does it have to do with China?","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/de\/globalization\/the-newly-launched-eu-us-trade-and-technology-council-ttc-what-is-it-all-about-and-what-does-it-have-to-do-with-china\/","date":"13. Oktober 2021","date_unix":1634119471,"date_modified_unix":1644496087,"date_iso":"2021-10-13T10:04:31+00:00","content":"<p><em> In June 2021, the European Union and the United States agreed to establish the <strong>Trade and Technology Council (TTC)<\/strong>. Even though the submarine deal between Australia, UK, and US (AUKUS) cast a shadow on <strong>EU-US relations<\/strong> recently, the inaugural meeting of the TTC took place as planned on September 29, in Pittsburgh. In this blog post, we provide some basic information on the TTC.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the Trade and Technology Council (TTC)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Trade and Technology Council\u2019s (TTC) primary objective is \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.consilium.europa.eu\/media\/50758\/eu-us-summit-joint-statement-15-june-final-final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00d6ffnet in einem neuen Tab\" >to <strong>coordinate<\/strong> approaches to key global trade, economic, and technology issues and to deepen transatlantic trade and economic relations based on shared democratic values.<\/a>\u201d Its chairs are high-level representatives from both sides of the Atlantic:<\/p>\n<h3><u><strong>EU co-chairs of the TTC:<\/strong> <\/u><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Margrethe Vestager, European Commission Executive Vice-President and EU Competition Commissioner<\/li>\n<li>Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission Executive Vice-President and EU Trade Commissioner<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong><u>US co-chairs of the TTC:<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State<\/li>\n<li>Gina Raimondo US Secretary of Commerce<\/li>\n<li>Katherine Tai, US Trade Representative.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The TTC can thus be seen as a high-level instrument to foster transatlantic exchange in key policy areas and mend the rifts in EU-US relations caused by the Trump administration and as an attempt at a rapprochement. To coordinate its work, the TTC has set up <strong>10 working groups<\/strong> on specific policy areas.<\/p>\n<h3><strong><u>Major goals of the Trade and Technology Council:<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Grow<\/strong> the bilateral trade and investment relationship;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Avoid<\/strong> new unnecessary technical barriers to trade;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Coordinate<\/strong>, seek common ground and strengthen global cooperation on technology, digital issues and supply chains;<\/li>\n<li>Support <strong>collaborative<\/strong> research and exchanges;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cooperate<\/strong> on compatible and international standards development;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Facilitate<\/strong> regulatory policy and enforcement cooperation and, where possible, convergence;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Promote<\/strong> innovation and leadership by US and European firms;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Strengthen<\/strong> other areas of cooperation<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consilium.europa.eu\/media\/50758\/eu-us-summit-joint-statement-15-june-final-final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00d6ffnet in einem neuen Tab\" >eu-us-summit-joint-statement-15-june-final-final.pdf (europa.eu)<\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong><u>The 10 Working Groups of the Trade and Technology Council<br \/>\n<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Technology Standards<\/li>\n<li>Climate and Clean Tech<\/li>\n<li>Secure Supply Chains<\/li>\n<li>Information and Communication Technology and Services (ICTS) Security and Competitiveness<\/li>\n<li>Data Governance and Technology Platforms<\/li>\n<li>Misuse of Technology Threatening Security and Human Rights<\/li>\n<li>Export Controls<\/li>\n<li>Investment Screening<\/li>\n<li>Promoting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Access to, and Use of, Digital Technologies<\/li>\n<li>Global Trade Challenges<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/commission\/presscorner\/detail\/en\/STATEMENT_21_4951\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00d6ffnet in einem neuen Tab\" >EU-US Trade and Technology Council Inaugural Joint Statement (europa.eu)<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is it not?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It is important to note that the TTC is neither a <strong>revival<\/strong> nor a relaunch of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The TTC is not a place for negotiations, aiming to conclude a legally binding agreement in the end.<\/p>\n<p>Its purpose in the first place is to create <strong>room<\/strong> for bilateral exchange on a broad range of issues that both sides feel an urge to address and for which it would be helpful to have a transatlantic agreement to push further on a bi-, plural- or multilateral level.<\/p>\n<p>Having said that, it is also important to add that the TTC at least is not intended to undermine the <strong>multilateral process<\/strong> but rather feed into it by helping the EU and US as two major players to find common grounds on important issues. The era Trump has shown very well what may happen to multilateralism when this is not the case.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What happened at the inaugural meeting?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Apart from reconfirming the major goals of the TTC, the Pittsburgh meeting resulted in a <strong>prioritization<\/strong> of work areas for the next few months. These are described in detail in five separate statements in the annex of <a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/commission\/presscorner\/detail\/en\/STATEMENT_21_4951\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00d6ffnet in einem neuen Tab\" >the inaugural Joint Statement<\/a> and include investment screening, export control, artificial intelligence, semiconductor supply chains, and global trade challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the ten working groups have also been given <a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/commission\/presscorner\/detail\/en\/STATEMENT_21_4951\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00d6ffnet in einem neuen Tab\" >priorities<\/a> on which to <strong>focus<\/strong> on. The export control working group has even been tasked with conducting a specific event on October 27, 2021, namely a joint EU-US virtual outreach to stakeholders in order to start soliciting their input.<\/p>\n<p>Given the generally even vaster range of topics and policies to be covered by the TTC, these are important steps to actually produce more concrete <strong>results<\/strong> at the next meeting, which is supposed to take place in Spring 2022 in France.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What does it have to do with China?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Although China is neither mentioned in the section of the <a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/commission\/presscorner\/detail\/en\/STATEMENT_21_4951\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00d6ffnet in einem neuen Tab\" >Joint Statement<\/a> on the establishment of the TTC nor in the inaugural Joint Statement issued on September 29 in Pittsburgh, the topics covered and the language used clearly point towards the <strong>Middle Kingdom:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By setting up the TTC, the EU and the US want \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/commission\/presscorner\/detail\/en\/STATEMENT_21_4951\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00d6ffnet in einem neuen Tab\" >to <strong>protect<\/strong> [their] businesses and workers from unfair trade practices, in particular those posed by non-market economies that are undermining the world trading system<\/a>\u201d and to protect their shared democratic values.<\/p>\n<p>TTC key areas, such as investment screening, export controls, or critical <strong>supply chains<\/strong>, remain at the core of tensions in US-EU-China relations. It is therefore understandable that China is watching this move closely.<\/p>\n<p>And exactly this could be a challenge for the work of the TTC. While for the United States, the TTC could indeed be a step towards a like-minded country alliance against China, the EU is reluctant to see it this way and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.piie.com\/blogs\/trade-and-investment-policy-watch\/what-us-eu-trade-and-technology-council-five-things-you-need\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00d6ffnet in einem neuen Tab\" >want[s] to avoid the TTC simply becoming an unproductive exercise at <strong>China-bashing<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The EU at the TTC might thus find itself in a situation \u201cto expect more <strong>pressure<\/strong> from its old ally to position itself clearly alongside the US,\u201d as we already predicted <a href=\"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/globalization\/president-bidens-first-100-days-our-experts-weigh-in\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00d6ffnet in einem neuen Tab\" >earlier<\/a>.<\/p>\n","excerpt":"<p>In June 2021, the European Union and the United States agreed to establish the Trade and Technology Council (TTC). Even [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","thumbnail":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/10\/guillaume-perigois-0NRkVddA2fw-unsplash.jpg","thumbnailsquare":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/10\/guillaume-perigois-0NRkVddA2fw-unsplash.jpg","authors":[{"id":2725,"name":"Cora Jungbluth","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/blogger\/dr-cora-jungbluth\/"}],"categories":[{"id":152,"name":"Globalization","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/category\/globalization\/"}],"tags":[{"id":213,"name":"trade","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/tag\/trade\/"},{"id":319,"name":"Trade and Technology Council","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/tag\/trade-and-technology-council\/"},{"id":318,"name":"TTC","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/tag\/ttc\/"}]}