Agriculture, Food and the TTIP: Possibilities and Pitfalls. CEPS Special Report No. 99/December 2014. TTIP Series No. 3 and Paper No. 1 in the CEPS-CTR project “TTIP in the balance’’
Progress in agriculture and food issues in the TTIP talks will largely be determined by the level
of ambition in the negotiations as a whole. If ambitions are modest, a low-level agreement
could probably be reached that includes some limited commitments on agricultural market
access and food regulations. These could include promises of mutual support in the area of
opening up agricultural markets through the WTO and of further Transatlantic cooperation in
trying to resolve conflicts over food regulations. Bolder ambitions would allow more scope for
tackling the difficult problems, though at the cost of time. It would be unfortunate if the
opportunity were not taken to make some significant progress in removing some longstanding
irritants in the area of agricultural policy and food regulations: this is where the
economic gains are likely to be significant and the spill-overs useful. This paper argues the
case that it is worthwhile making the effort to secure a constructive and imaginative agreement
on agriculture and food regulations in the TTIP. A fairly detailed suggestive list of potential
sub-deals in agro-food, supported by the analysis in the paper, is the most concrete one of a
series of policy conclusion
