Biotechnology: Can the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership reconcile EU and US differences on GMOs?
The US and EU have announced negotiations for a free trade agreement to be completed by end of 2014. While tariff barriers between the two entities are limited, their trade is encumbered with non-tariff barriers (NTBs), one of them being their diverging approach to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the agriculture and food industries. The US operates from a science-based perspective while the EU relies on the precautionary principle. This paper reviews the developments of GMOs in both the US and EU and draws on measures outlined in international organizations and recent trade agreements to explore options for the US and EU to reconcile their different perspectives within the framework of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
