There are a number of reasons the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) holds the potential to be a significant agreement. Not least of these is the fact that the United States and European Union together account for half the world’s output and a third of all trade.
The Financial Times and Washington Post reported on 13 June that the European Commission – before the full scope of PRISM became known – watered down its proposed Data Protection Regulation to weaken rules for transferring data to law enforcement authorities outside the EU.