On June 4, 2013, The European Institute welcomed Philippe G. Nell, Head of the Americas Division at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, to discuss the challenges that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will pose for Switzerland and its strong economic ties with both the EU and the U.S. Calling the TTIP “a huge development in global trade policy”, Mr. Nell outlined the main options for Switzerland: negotiating a free trade agreement with the U.S. after the conclusion of TTIP; negotiating TTIP membership after the fact; or lastly, seeking to eliminate specific TTIP disadvantages for Swiss access to the U.S. market through the Swiss-U.S. Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum or multilateral fora.