Towards Regulatory Convergence in Ttip: An Integrative Negotiating Approach

The EU’s previously undisputed role as the biggest trading power in the world has been severely challenged both by the euro crisis and the changing balance of power of the international trading system, especially with the raise of Asia. To cope with and minimise the effects of these challenges, the EU has shown resilience in pursuing a trade agenda aimed at increasing market access to other trading powers, in particular through overcoming regulatory divergence. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the trade negotiations between the EU and the US, leading to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Given the already low levels of tariffs in both the EU and the US, the development of regulatory convergence and common standards constitute the major part of these negotiations.

This paper argues that traditional negotiation theories focusing on power relationships or distributive bargaining provide limited explanatory power in this case. Instead, it shows how integrative negotiation theory with a focus on problem-solving, process and relation-building offers a better analytical tool to understand this new type of negotiation that addresses the relationship between trade and regulation. Using this theoretical tool, the paper demonstrates how the EU-US negotiations are characterised by discussions between technical experts on how best to approach regulatory convergence, rather than by traditional bargaining.

The paper contributes to the resilience discourse by highlighting how the EU is adapting to cope with current challenges, and by demonstrating how an integrative negotiation approach in itself is reflective of certain traits of resilience.