President Obama is in Europe to defend a free-trade treaty between the US and the European Community; he is heading to Hanover, Germany, next. Canada already has an agreement which is very similar. The two need to be voted into law by European nations. There are still some sticking points.
As explained in Le Monde, the concerned sectors are the following:
Cette harmonisation réglementaire concerne pour l'instant neuf secteurs: l'automobile, la pharmacie, la chimie, les cosmétiques, l'ingéniérie, les pesticides, le textile, les appareils médicaux, les technologies de l'information et de la communication. Les services financiers en sont exclus pour l'instant et les services culturels n'en feront définitivement pas partie.
Opponents in North America decry it is an assault on buy local policies that may well cost jobs. Europeans are wary of American regulatory norms - or rather, the lack of them - on the quality of products, environmental protection, product testing (cosmetics) and so forth.
The creation of this large trading zone is seen as necessary to protect developed economies in an increasingly competitive world economy, but it remains a road fraught with difficulties. Opponents are demonstrating in Hanover today.
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