European negotiators must be given an "extremely clear and unambiguous mandate, expressly excluding from the negotiations all cultural and audiovisual goods and services, whatever their means of distribution, on the Internet, or not," said a statement Tuesday from the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity, which represents filmmakers and other cultural industries.
Despite such ominous opening shots, several business leaders on both sides have welcomed the trade deal decision and its ambitious timetable.
"Change is always a challenge," says Michelle Gibbons, chair of the EU-US Task Force at American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union. "We are used to doing things our own way on both sides of the Atlantic."
However, she sees a new commitment to overcome the differences. "There is a political willingness on both sides to put everything on the table," she said. "It's a question of the devil is in the detail, but there is such opportunity for the jobs and growth agenda."
Officials on both sides are focusing on the positive, emphasizing that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - as the proposed agreement is called - will go beyond traditional tariff cutting to set up common business rules and recognition of each others' standards.
Officials say that could save companies billions in red tape. For instance, automakers selling in Europe and the United States would need to comply with only one set of safety standards instead of having to adapt vehicles to meet European and American regulations.
"Our main focus has to be to tackle those barriers which are behind the customs border - such as differences in technical regulations, standards and certifications," EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said last week. "Such barriers are estimated to be equivalent to slapping a traditional tariff on a product of between 10 and 20 percent - so the current cost to business and consumers is high."
The United States and the 27-member EU already make up the world's largest commercial relationship, worth $2.7 billion in everyday goods and services, almost a third of global trade. Tariffs are already low by world standards, averaging around 4 percent.
Americans and Europeans also have $3.7 trillion invested in each others' economies.
Both sides deny the decision to aim for a bilateral mega-deal recognizes the failure of the long stalled efforts to strike a global trade liberalization package under the so-called Doha Round of talks launched by the World Trade Organization in 2001.
"It's a recognition that multilateralism is somewhat stuck," says Clancy, the EU spokesman. "Of course this is a bilateral deal, but it's a bilateral deal that supports setting standards in global trade rules, enshrining those within the WTO church. That's ultimately the goal."
The EU-US deal also has a geopolitical dimension. Stronger economic bonds between the Western powers could counter the rise of China and other emerging powers.
They hope the trans-Atlantic agreement will set international benchmarks on issues such as public procurement, environment and labor standards and intellectual property rights that will be hard for the Chinese not to follow.
