Transatlantic trade deal: EU needs a deal more than the US

CANVASSING a voter at the recent general election in Dublin I was told that TTIP was responsible for water charges. When I tried to dissuade the person, in explaining that actually TTIP wasn’t in place and had nothing to do with water charges, I was told “that I wouldn’t believe you anyway”.

It’s a hard one to explain, when undisputed facts are simply not accepted.

One of the benefits of the leaked documentation from Greenpeace on the TTIP talks is that it has helped to raise public awareness of the issue. The truth is that in the leak we didn’t learn anything new from either the US or the EU side of the negotiations. But that hasn’t stopped people deliberately misrepresenting what’s going on. All trade negotiations take place in private. That’s why it’s a negotiation. But a negotiation is not the same thing as an agreement and unfortunately this point is lost in the debate.