Italy: Paris Climate Agreement: Trump still not backing Paris climate agreement says Italy's PM

President Donald Trump still refuses to back the 2015 Paris agreement to fight climate change, blocking efforts by world leaders meeting in Sicily to get the new U.S. leader to endorse the treaty, Italy's prime minister said on Friday.

But there was agreement on other issues such as Syria, Libya and fighting terrorism, Paolo Gentiloni told reporters in Taormina, Italy, where the heads of the world's seven major industrialised economies (G7) are meeting.

"There is one open question, which is the U.S. position on the Paris climate accords... All others have confirmed their total agreement on the accord," Gentiloni said. "We are sure that after an internal reflection, the United States will also want to commit to it," he added.

The leaders of Italy, the U.S., Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Japan signed on Friday a statement to bolster efforts to fight terrorism, including a bid to remove extremist propaganda from the Internet, Gentiloni said.

"We showed our united commitment and our determination to continue and to strengthen our fight against terrorism," Gentiloni said after the leaders signed a document that also expressed solidarity with Britain after the suicide bomb attack in Manchester on Monday that killed 22.

Gentiloni said they had made progress on the issue of foreign trade, but added that the wording of the final communique still needed to be worked out. Trump has previously promoted a protectionist agenda that alarmed his G7 allies.

Read more: Trump still not backing Paris climate agreement - Italy's PM - World | The Star Online

The EU and TTIP: Secret document reveals EU offer to drop 97 percent of tariffs - Justus von Daniels and Marta Orosz

We now know that the TTIP negotiations entered a decisive phase on October 15, 2015. That’s when US and EU representatives laid their cards on the table, exchanging offers to cut taxes on imports from each other. Up until then, the US had only broached hypothetical reductions; now they were openly offering to remove 87.5 percent of tariffs completely.

That was more than the EU expected. European negotiators had to agree a better offer, or risk derailing the deal. A week later, they did came up with a new proposal: reductions in 97 percent of tariff categories.

The EU’s secret offer, which CORRECTIV has seen in its entirety, is made up of 181 pages of densely-printed text and can be found here. It’s got almost 8,000 categories: Every species of fish, every chemical has its own tariff category. Importing a parka? Wool, or polyester?

Trade deals are like poker games. Europe’s big offer comes with a big hope: That the US will open up its public bidding process to European firms. That way, European construction companies could bid on contracts to build US highways, or BMW could sell cop cars to American sheriffs.

For the first time, the tariff offer makes clear what TTIP might do for consumers: remove duties, and prices tend to drop. With tariffs on parts gone, cars could get cheaper. Per part, tariffs add just a few cents on the euro, but altogether European car manufacturers could save a billion Euros each year, according to German Association of the Automotive Industry calculations. Manufacturers could then pass the savings on to consumers.

The EU is now waiting for the US to offer a substantial deal on public procurement. In a September 15 report obtained by CORRECTIV, the European Commission says “it definitely expects that the US will offer to open public procurement at a future point in time, in exchange for the revised tariff offer.”

That report also indicated that the US “promised to make a proposal regarding public procurement for the first time” when the EU and US put forth their symmetrical tariff reductions, eliminating 97 percent of all tariffs.
Public bids are a major TTIP sticking point. The EU wants the US to finally open its markets to allow firms like Balfour Beattie or BMW to compete when cities put out a call for bids on a new building or fleet of cars. The US is less than eager, because that would subject domestic companies – which are already allowed to bid on projects in the EU – to increased competition.

Four days before the next negotiation round starts, the European Commission has now indicated that they don’t expect a comprehensive offer. Sources said that the US haven’t sent their proposal yet and that public procurement will be discussed right after the official negotiation round. The 12th round of negotiations started this Monday in Brussels.

Read more: TTIP: Secret document reveals EU offer to drop 97 percent of tariffs | openDemocracy

Euro Deflation And How To Interpret It

If you read Larry Summers in the Financial Times, you know that recent data confirm falling prices in the euro zone.  Summers argues that the deflation indicates global stagnation, though we find disagreement on the appropriate interpretation. For some it is no more than the transitory effect of falling petroleum prices.

The focus on petroleum prices indicates the analytical limitations of,composite price indices for understanding what is unfolding in the euro zone. A professed function of these indices is to serve as an indicator for central bank inflation targeting. The relationship is well-known.

Central banks take a rise in the composite price index above some arbitrary guideline to indicate the need to increase interest rates. The increase in the central bank rate allegedly curtails credit growth and dampens inflationary pressures.

Even should one believe the interest rate to inflation causality, a composite price index is not the appropriate indicator for central bank action be it measured for consumers, producers or GDP as a whole.

Composite indices all mislead more than they inform.

The misleading effect of composite prince indices is especially serious for the euro zone. First and most obviously, euro zone price  indices conceal variations in inflationary pressures across member countries.

Read more: Euro Deflation And How To Interpret It