Introduction

Despite being intended primarily as an economic agreement creating a transatlantic common market, the launch of the talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has put transatlantic relations back at the forefront of the political agenda on both sides of the Atlantic. After the transatlantic rift under the George W. Bush administrations (2000–2008) and the Obama administration’s ‘pivot to Asia’, the start of the TTIP negotiations has reaffirmed the strategic importance of the transatlantic partnership for both the United States (the US) and Europe. Indeed, TTIP promises not only to boost jobs and growth, but also to create closer cooperation between the US and the European Union (EU) in policy areas which were not traditionally at the heart of interactions between politicians across the Atlantic: investment and trade.