The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in the context of capitalist globalization

Abstract

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a free trade agreement which today is being negotiated in secret between the United States and the European Union. The regulatory disengagement proposed by the TTIP, linked to the disappearance of the «barriers to trade» between the European Union and the United States, especially favours those major economic powers and transnational corporations on both sides of the Atlantic that pressure politicians through their lobbies. The TTIP is a means of favouring Capital and leaving Work unprotected by seeking in reality to reduce salaries and cut labour rights, and to improve the returns of large companies. The Agreement’s intended privatization of social services also implies a clear move to disarm the Welfare State, a hallmark of European social progress which can not be relinquished. This impoverishment of the working class that peeks behind the scenes of the TTIP will also contribute to the expansion of existing inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth.