Introduction

EU-US relations

About

The EU and US have an important mutual trading relationship. Together with our US counterparts in the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) we urge for a transatlantic relationship that makes consumer markets fairer and safer. That is why we monitor, analyse, and provide input to discussions between EU and US regulators with a potential ‘consumer’ dimension.

Current EU-US regulatory discussions include a workstream on ‘consumers’ (covering the digital age, sustainability issues, financial services, and product safety), the broad Trade and Technology Council, as well as dedicated dialogues on agriculture, competition policy, and public health. As these topics could easily overlap, BEUC reminds EU policymakers it is important that these different dialogues do not lead to divergent outcomes on common issues.

BEUC upped its work on EU-US affairs in the mid-2010s, during negotiations for a potential free trade agreement which never saw the light of day: the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). This agreement intended to go beyond mere import tariff reductions, and could have changed consumer protection on personal data, chemicals and food safety in Europe – we warned.