British Consul General Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford: Speaks on Transatlantic Trade at World Trade Center

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British Consul General Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford Speaks on Transatlantic Trade at World Trade Center

British Consul General Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford gave the keynote address at the World Trade Center meeting today on the importance of the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP), a multilateral trade agreement between the 28 members of the EU and the US.

“TTIP has the potential to be to be the largest trade negotiation,” said Pilmore-Bedford, “because the EU and US economies make up 1/3 of all global trade. In Georgia, TTIP could boost net employment by more than 24,000 and increase exports to the EU by 31.5 percent. An ambitious TTIP will increase both the UK and US overall GDP, create thousands of jobs and boost global trade across all borders.”

Benjamin Butler, Business Development Manager for DSV Air & Sea Inc., and Jennifer Lollis, Tax Manager at HLB Gross Collins, P.C., joined Pilmore-Bedford on a TTIP panel discussion following his remarks.

Butler said, “One of TTIP’s objectives is relieving tariffs across all sectors, which is the definition of free trade.”

“We need a global approach,” said Lollis. “My domestic clients want to expand their businesses into the UK, more than anywhere else in the world, and TTIP will lower their cost to entry.”

The US is the largest single destination for UK exports, with a $213 billion trade flow between UK/US in 2012. The UK is the largest trading partner in the EU for the US, and the high volume of trade between the two countries makes TTIP a top priority.

Learn more about TTIP online: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/ttip/.