US economist: TTIP could hurt European trade, raise unemployment

Budapest (MTI) – The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a free trade agreement planned between the United States and the European Union, could stifle global growth, raise unemployment and social inequality while slowing down trade within the EU, an economist and labour-market expert said on Monday.

Jeronim Capaldo, a researcher at the US Tufts University and an expert of the international Labour Organisation (ILO), said at a roundtable in Budapest that he found projections published so far about the TTIP “unrealistic”, partly because they predicted that there would be no change in the employment rate or wages as a result of the pact. The published studies generally ignore the budget deficit, too, he said.

Capaldo said in his analysis, which was based on the United Nation’s global policy model, the TTIP would not solve the problem of overproduction in industrial societies where excess goods do not necessarily find a market.

In connection with cited advantages for Hungary in terms of vehicle exports, Capaldo said Europe is already a big exporter of vehicles to the US and it is not known whether the TTIP would be able to boost this further.

He noted, however, that agreements connected to the TTIP would weaken employees’ positions, which would lead to economic instability and ultimately a crisis.

Talks on the TTIP have been ongoing since 2013, but they have hit an impasse, with European critics worrying about doors opening to unshackled business for big global US corporations.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters