Pascal Lamy, former European Trade Commissioner and former director general of the World Trade Organization, described TTIP as “the first show of the new world of trade” (2015: 8), in which negotiations are focused primarily on addressing the adverse trade eff ects of regulatory differences rather than removing tariffs. This emphasis set TTIP apart from all other trade negotiations.

This chapter presents the substance of the TTIP negotiations and contextualizes it. It provides an overview of the main issues in the negotiations, as more detailed accounts can be found elsewhere (see, for instance, Hamilton & Pelkmans 2015b). There were four main components to the negotiations: (1) market access; (2) regulatory cooperation; (3) the setting of global “rules”; and (4) arrangements to govern the relationship. The boundaries between these categories are sometimes blurred. These different components to the negotiations were characterized by different negotiating dynamics, had different implications for diff erent actors and engendered different patterns of political mobilization and engagement, as will be discussed in subsequent chapters. There was also a set of issues that were excluded from the negotiations, including audio-visual services, financial market regulation and data protection. Despite these exclusions, TTIP was notable for the ambition of its breadth of coverage, as well as the potential depth of its disciplines (see Figure 3.1).

Market access: I’ll let you sell into my market, if you’ll let me sell into yours

Securing improved access to a trade partner’s market, particularly for goods, has been the traditional focus of trade negotiations since the end of the Second World War. Until recently, the principal barriers to market access have been tariff s (taxes on imports) and quantitative restrictions or quotas (numerical limits on importation of particular goods). Market access negotiations are conducted on the basis of reciprocal concessions: one party offers to liberalize access to its market in some areas in exchange for its partner liberalizing access to its market in others.

In this context, relative market size is the key source of bargaining power.