Getting TTIP over the line

Have you heard of TTIP? It stands for The Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership and its introduction could make life much easier for small businesses selling to the US. Here we outline TTIP and ask for your stories of US expansion.

No less than 7 European Prime Ministers came together yesterday for a discussion chaired by UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, with business leaders and organisations, to put some momentum into TTIP negotiations. Hosts of the event, the CBI, offered 5 Top Reasons to support TTIP and showcased small and large businesses that will benefit should the trade deal be introduced.

In brief:

• This is a trade deal that would make trade between the EU and US more straightforward through removing tariffs and standardizing regulations. For example, you would only need to test your products in one country, for acceptance into the other. 'This could be the biggest trade deal in history' said the UK Prime Minister ahead of comments from companies including UPS, Siemens, Accenture and IBM on how they back the deal too.

• This is a trade deal that is beneficial to small business. If agreed, it means the introduction of mutual recognition agreements and standardization so shipping goods and selling services becomes as straightforward as operating in your home nation.

• What's required to get TTIP 'over the line' is examples of where small businesses have met with challenges around duplicate testing or anomalies in regulation that would be solved through TTIP's introduction. If this applies to you, please let us know!

What became clear from the discussion is political and business leaders from across Europe and across parties are supportive of TTIP and want to see it come into effect in 2015/16.

As momentum builds, we will continue to share TTIP news on Enterprise Nation and call for your stories of expanding to the US. This trade deal needs you!