Understanding TTIP Part 2: Disputed deal 'could bring £400 to every British family'

This week, activists presented a petition signed by more than three million people from across Europe to the European Commission to scrap the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a controversial trade deal negotiated behind closed doors in Brussels by United States and European Union representatives.

In the final video of a two-part series looking at what lies behind the acronym, IBTimes UK spoke to Sam Bowman, deputy director of public policy think tank Adam Smith Institute, who says he has compelling reasons to be in favour of TTIP.

Besides consumers enjoying cheaper products and services, the deal could also boost the UK economy amid a recent slowdown.

In its impact study, the EU estimated TTIP could result in a 0.5% rise in economic growth by 2017 in the EU, assuming half the non-tariff trade barriers would be broken.

Bowman acknowledged the GDP figures could be "a little bit exaggerated and optimistic" as he expects governments to push for exceptions – as it happened in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – but says the deal could instead bring 0.25% or 0.33% to the EU growth rate.

"0.25% or 0.33% is still a lot of money. 0.5% means an extra £400 in the pockets of every British family," Bowman said. "The €120bn [£89bn, $137bn] extra for Europe and €90bn extra for the US are also useful figures and are probably what we should be thinking about when we are thinking about the benefits."