The Bertelsmann Foundation (BFNA), established in 2008, is the North American arm of the Germany-based Bertelsmann Stiftung, one of Germany’s and Europe’s largest think tanks. The Bertelsmann Founda-tion is a driver of social change, committed to promoting the freedom of individuals and societies and inter-national understandings.
BFNA has been at the forefront of research and debate on the TTIP, the ambitious free trade agreement currently being negotiated by the United States and the European Union. With offices on both sides of the Atlantic, BFNA has been uniquely qualified in encouraging public debate on the TTIP, convening key Euro-pean and American stakeholders to discuss the nuances of a potential agreement while providing timely anal-ysis on the negotiations and the challenges EU and US negotiators face in seeking an agreement.
To that end, BFNA has over the last year released several publications focusing on the TTIP. These include the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: Ambitious, but Achievable (A Stakeholder Survey and Three Scenarios) (March 2013), a stakeholder survey outlining attitudes and opinions prior to the commencement of TTIP negotiations, and TTIP and the Fifty States, a report analyzing the economic impact of a TTIP on all 50 US states released in partnership with the Atlantic Council and the British Embassy in Washington, DC.
Beginning in May 2014, BFNA will also launch the TTIP Town Hall, an information and awareness-raising program that will focus on the local and regional aspects of a TTIP, expanding the discussion beyond Wash-ington, DC. The program will focus on five US cities throughout the United States over a two-year period. Through a series of meetings, presentations and “town hall” gatherings, BFNA will provide an opportunity to those whose perspectives are traditionally underrepresented in trade negotiations to express their intensity of interest in, priorities for, and concerns about the TTIP agreement.
