EU US Trade Talks Restart this Week

Officials from the European Union and the US will spend this week in Brussels trying to make progress negotiating a controversial trade deal.

The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) aims to stimulate commerce by reducing barriers such as tariffs and differences in regulation.

Critics say the agenda is driven by international business and will be bad for European and American citizens.

It is a little over a year since the talks were launched at a G8 summit.

It was the UK Prime Minister David Cameron, US President Obama and top EU officials, who set the ball rolling at the summit at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland.

At the time, Mr Cameron said there was no more powerful way to drive economic growth and prosperity than by boosting trade.

The agenda for doing that includes the standard stuff of trade liberalisation - reducing or even eliminating tariffs, taxes that are applied only to imported goods.

The negotiators are also trying to reduce the barriers to trade that arise from different sets of regulations.

They can impede trade because it's more expensive for business to export if it has to go through all the hoops involved in complying with two lots of rules and standards.

Campaigners fear that could lead to lower levels of consumer and environmental protection.