"We have the concern that TTIP could, in the long run, take energy from WTO. In the end, we will need to get back to the WTO, where everyone is member, not just the US," Swedish trade board’s Per Altenberg said.
Altenberg, the board’s trade and policy development analyst, addressed the WTO Public Forum’s working session on trade negotiations in the Swiss city of Geneva earlier on Thursday.
The TTIP seeks to streamline and deregulate trade between the United States and the European Union and, according to those who have seen the closely guarded text, includes stipulations that would enable multinational corporations to sidestep and even override sovereign governments from implementing national and international law.
Moreover, Per Altenberg thinks that the deal must open its doors to other countries, including BRICS member-states.
"TTIP must be open for other participants, such as Mexico or Turkey who should be able to join TTIP in future, and that relates to other countries too, BRICS countries too," National Board of Trade of Sweden senior adviser, Per Altenberg, said.
The global transparency organization WikiLeaks contends that TTIP will create a global economic bloc to rival BRICS, an association between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The unusually secretive nature of the TTIP negotiations as well as its provisions to establish extraterritorial courts to settle trade disputes and the advantages afforded to multinational corporations have drawn criticism from activists and lawmakers.
