by Nat Whalley Aug 31st, 2016
“TTIP has failed”. That’s the verdict from Germany’s economic minister. [1] It’s looking like the end of the road for the dodgy trade deal that would’ve put our democracy and NHS at risk. Last night, politician after politician came out to declare the deal as good as dead. [2]
This could be big. And in part, it’s thanks to us. For over two years, 38 Degrees members have thrown everything at stopping this deal:
We’ve almost won this battle. TTIP is on its last legs. But there are so many more fights ahead of us. Already, the EU is close to agreeing a similar dodgy deal with Canada (known as ‘CETA’) which could come into force before we leave the EU. [4]
And in the next year our government will start to negotiate new trade deals with countries from China to the US to Brazil. If these trade deals are good ones, they could make Britain more prosperous and protect the things that matter – our NHS, our democracy, the environment.
But if they’re bad, they’d be like “TTIP on steroids”. They could put our NHS at risk, allow corporations to use secret courts to sneak around our democracy, and let businesses pollute our rivers and air. [5]
The last two years have been tough. It hasn’t always seemed possible to stop a global trade deal. But people power – emails to our MPs, a fiver donated, 50 petition signatures collected on a clipboard – has worked. And if we can bring TTIP to its knees, we know we can stop more deals like TTIP in their tracks.
NOTES:
[1] Telegraph: EU’s TTIP trade deal with the US has collapsed, says Germany:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/bus
[2] Independent: TTIP negotiations should stop, French government says:
http://www.independent.co.uk/n
BBC: TTIP in further doubt as Hollande questions timing:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/busi
Yahoo News: France rules out imminent EU-US trade deal, wants talks halted:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fra
[3] To read about all the amazing things 38 Degrees members have done together to fight TTIP check out the 38 Degrees blog:
https://home.38degrees.org.uk/
[4] The Guardian: Think TTIP is a threat to democracy? There’s another trade deal that’s already signed:
https://www.theguardian.com/co
[5] Independent: ‘TTIP on steroids’: Campaigners warn post-Brexit UK faces ‘disastrous’ trade deal with US:
http://www.independent.co.uk/n