TTIP Trade Deal May Have 'Few or No Benefits' for UK

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal would offer "few or no benefits to the UK," according to a 2013 UK government-commissioned report disclosed Monday, just hours before UK Prime Minister David Cameron is set to discuss the deal with US and German leaders.

The 13th round of EU-US talks on the TTIP deal started in the United States earlier on Monday, a day after US President Barack Obama said during a visit to Germany that the TTIP should be signed by the end of the year. German Chancellor Angela Merkel supported Obama’s call to speed up the signing of the agreement.

The report, disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request by the Global Justice Now anti-TTIP campaigners, claims that TTIP "is likely to have few or no benefits to the UK, while having meaningful economic and political costs."

"All in all, it is doubtful that UK investors will find additional protections from an EU-US investment protection treaty beyond those currently provided, and enforced, under US law," the official assessment, conducted by the London School of Economics, found.

The TTIP deal has drawn criticism from the public for the lack of transparency in its negotiations and the power it would potentially give to international corporations. It has also been slammed for bypassing the framework of the World Trade Organization and excluding BRICS countries. Leaked details of the deal show that it might undermine environmental, health, safety and labor standards.