To enhance trade disciplines and market access by addressing remaining transatlantic barriers to trade and investment, the United States and the European Union (EU) presently are negotiating a "mega-regional" free trade agreement (FTA). The potential agreement officially is referred to as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP). The United States and EU, led respectively by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and European Commission, commenced negotiations in July 2013. Both sides initially aimed to conclude the negotiations in two years, but have extended that goal a number of times. Twelve rounds of T-TIP negotiations have occurred to date. Congress has a direct interest in the T-TIP negotiations because it establishes overall U.S. trade negotiating objectives, which it updated in 2015 in Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation ( P.L. 114-26 ), and would approve future implementing legislation for a final T-TIP to enter into force. T-TIP could be eligible to receive expedited legislative consideration under TPA if Congress determines that it advances U.S. trade negotiating objectives established in TPA and meets other statutory requirements. It recommended that the negotiations aim to achieve "ambitious" outcomes in three broad areas: 
1. elimination or reduction of market access barriers for trade in goods, services, and investment; 2. enhanced compatibility of regulations and standards; and 3. cooperation for developing rules on global issues of common concern in areas such as intellectual property rights, the environment and labor, as well as in other globally relevant trade-related areas (e.g., state-owned enterprises, localization barriers to trade, trade facilitation, raw materials and energy, small- and medium-sized enterprises, and transparency). With respect to investment, T-TIP would far exceed existing U.S. FTAs and the proposed TPP. Regulations and standards: Greater cooperation, convergence, and transparency in regulations and standards-setting processes could help to reduce transatlantic nontariff barriers to trade. Digital Data Flows

T-TIP is expected to include commitments on commercial cross-border data flows. Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS)

A major area of debate in T-TIP is treatment of ISDS and the investor protections which ISDS aims to protect. Issues for Congress

		Negotiating a Comprehensive and High-Standard Agreement

The T-TIP negotiations present Congress with the issue of whether the United States and the EU will be able to conclude a final agreement that is "comprehensive and high standard." The economic challenges in both the United States and EU are a major incentive for the T-TIP negotiation. How may T-TIP address U.S. trade negotiating objectives? What is T-TIP's relationship to other U.S. and EU trade agreements and negotiations? Analysts debate how T-TIP may affect the multilateral trading system. Congress could examine the implications of other countries joining (or not joining) the T-TIP, including the impact on T-TIP's economic and broader strategic value.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) is a potential reciprocal free trade agreement (FTA) that the United States and the European Union (EU) are negotiating with each other. Formal negotiations commenced in July 2013. Both sides initially aimed to conclude the negotiations in two years, but more recently have updated their timeline and aim to conclude the T-TIP by the end of 2016. Twelve rounds of T-TIP negotiations have occurred to date.
The United States and EU seek to enhance market access and trade disciplines by addressing remaining transatlantic barriers to trade and investment in goods, services, and agriculture by negotiating a "comprehensive and high-standard" T-TIP through:
reducing and eliminating tariffs between the United States and EU; further opening services and government procurement markets; enhancing cooperation, convergence, and transparency in regulations and standards-setting processes; and strengthening and developing new rules in areas such as intellectual property rights (IPR), investment, digital trade, trade facilitation, labor and the environment, localization barriers, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
Some rules potentially agreed to in T-TIP could exceed existing commitments in U.S. FTAs or World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. Certain T-TIP issues are active areas of debate, in part because of divergent U.S. and EU cultural preferences and values as well as differing views on how any final T-TIP may impact government regulatory abilities. Such issues include regulatory cooperation, treatment of geographical indications (GIs), inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), and facilitation of cross-border data flows.
Congress has important legislative, oversight, and advisory responsibilities with respect to T-TIP. Congress establishes overall U.S. trade negotiating objectives, which it updated in the 2015 Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation (P.L. 114-26), and would approve future implementing legislation for a final T-TIP agreement to enter into force. T-TIP could be eligible to receive expedited legislative consideration under TPA if Congress determines that it satisfies the TPA negotiating objectives and has met TPA's various other requirements.
T-TIP raises a range of issues of congressional interest:
Will the United States and EU be able to successfully conclude a comprehensive and high-standard FTA through the T-TIP negotiations? What are the economic and broader strategic implications of a potential T-TIP? How does the T-TIP address U.S. trade negotiating objectives? What is T-TIP's relationship to the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), other potential trade agreements, and the multilateral trading system more generally? How do the T-TIP negotiations balance confidentiality and transparency? Should other countries be allowed to join the T-TIP negotiations or a completed agreement, and what are the implications?