Creating a Transatlantic Marketplace

 International   Thu, April 10, 2014 07:17 AM

Washington, DC - Publics in Germany and the United States support the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and trade expansion in general, according to a new survey by the PewResearchCenter in association with the Bertelsmann Foundation. But when it comes to specifics, Americans and Germans are wary of many details of this far-reaching initiative, which aims to reduce or eliminate tariffs on merchandise trade, remove restrictions on investment and find common technological and regulatory standards.



By more than two-to-one, Germans (55% to 25%) and Americans (53% to 20%) say TTIP will be good for their countries (28% of Americans and 20% of Germans expressed no view). More than seven-in-ten Americans and Germans see increasing U.S.-EU trade as beneficial, with nearly eight-in-ten Americans supportive of more trade with Germany in particular.



But when it comes to specifics, both Americans and Germans oppose many details of this expansive initiative Only 38% of Germans and 41% of Americans support the removal of all tariffs on the transatlantic shipment of goods. Just 41% of Germans and 39% of Americans back the elimination of restrictions on transatlantic foreign investment.



And Germans and Americans sharply disagree over the most ambitious TTIP objective: making transatlantic regulatory standards as similar as possible. While Americans support such an effort by a margin of four-to-one (76% to 18%), just 45% of Germans agree.



These are among the main findings of two parallel telephone surveys conducted among 953 people in Germany from February 25 to February 26, 2014, and among 1,002 people in the United States from February 27 to March 2, 2014. Among the other findings:



Partisan Differences: There is no partisan divide in support for TTIP in Germany, but in the United States more Democrats (60%) than Republicans (44%) back the deal.



Generation Gap: Although there is no generation gap on this issue in Germany, young Americans (67%), those ages 18 to 29, are significantly more in favor of TTIP than their elders (45%), age 50 and older.



Transatlantic Investment: Americans are, in general, more approving than Germans when it comes to transatlantic investment. Two-thirds of Americans (66%), but only roughly half of Germans (49%) say that foreigners building new factories in their country helps the nation. But nearly three-quarters of Germans (73%) and more than half of Americans (56%) say foreign mergers and acquisitions hurt the country.



Motivations for Backing TTIP: Americans are much more likely than Germans to say that they think TTIP is good for their country because it will help their nation to be more competitive with China.



Data Privacy: On data privacy, an issue that has gained prominence in the wake of revelations of spying by the U.S. National Security Agency, a significant share (85%) of Germans trust European rather than American standards. Roughly half (49%) of Americans trust U.S. privacy standards.



Trans-Pacific Partnership: A similar proportion of Americans (55%) are supportive of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – a free-trade deal being negotiated among Washington and 11 countries in Asia and Latin America – as support TTIP (53%). One-in-five Americans (20%) oppose TTIP and one-in-four (25%) oppose TPP.



Germans’ EU Skepticism: By more than two-to-one (65% to 28%) Germans say Berlin and not Brussels should be the negotiator of trade agreements on behalf of Germany.

These findings are for immediate release and available at www.pewglobal.org/2014/04/09/support-in-principle-for-u-s-eu-trade-pact

ALSO SEE: An infographic on the findings, as well as a summary of findings in English and German. The survey results will be presented on Thursday, April 10, at a session of the Bertelsmann Foundation-Financial Times Conference in Washington, D.C.



For more information or to arrange an interview with Bruce Stokes, please contact Russ Oates at 202.419.4372 or roates@pewresearch.org. For more information on the conference, please contact Andrew Cohen, director of communications and outreach at the Bertelsmann Foundation, at 202.384.1996 or andrew.cohen@bfnaorg.



Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan source of data and analysis. It does not take advocacy positions. Its Global Attitudes Project conducts public opinion surveys around the world on a broad array of subjects ranging from people’s assessments of their own lives to their views about the current state of the world and important issues of the day.

CONTACT:
Russ Oates,
202.419.4372,
roates@pewresearch.org
 
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