If the political side were to turn really sour, there might be domestic pressures in Europe to treat the United States more as a competitor than as an ally.
Ambassador Hugo Paemen, former EU Head of Delegation to the U.S.
The $3 trillion transatlantic business relationship employs around 15 million people and is the biggest and deepest commercial relationship between two continents in recorded history. Just about as many Americans work for European firms as Europeans do for American firms. China might grab all the headlines, but for now the size of the EU-U.S. commercial link dwarfs those from developing countries. For instance, the total number of manufacturing workers employed by U.S. affiliated companies in China is less than half of the manufacturing workers employed by American firms in Germany alone.
Without this huge business relationship the political ties between Europe and America would have been in worse shape than they are now. But we shouldn't take this status for granted. Politics can quickly seep into the business sphere. Remember the 2003 U.S. steel tariffs against Europeans? The EU gave notice that if the tariffs were not removed within a few weeks, the EU would target goods from politically sensitive American states and put tariffs on them. The states were selected based on their importance to the American President who was running for re-election. The tariffs were quickly removed. What might have happened had they not?
China, India, Brazil, and the Middle East are emerging as the commercial giants of the twenty-first century. The transatlantic economic link will become less important 20-30 years from now than it is today. Even more important to re-negotiate a new alliance now.
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4 comments:
China and India are always in the news with respect to the effects, both good and bad, of globalization. Why does the media pretty much ignore our transatlantic business relationship if it is as significant as you say? Whenever Germany, France and the UK are mentioned in terms of business, it always seems to be in regards to the burden of their labor laws on corporate productivity and profit. We rarely hear about how many American companies employ Europeans within the borders of EU nations.
Good Question. I suspect it is because U.S. Administrations have never given the EU the importance it deserves. And the media, with its pack instinct, has followed this "leadership."
The other night we were watching Al Gores movie "An Inconvient Truth". I have to say he makes a convincing case for global warming.
But one of the things that struck me was that the EU seems willing to face up to the issue and try and do something about it. Of course part of Americas current stance on global warming is the intransigence of the present Administration but it left me wondering if once again we will ignore the EU and the path that they have taken thus only isolating ourselves more.
Rich,
There is a clear danger of that and I'd like to see the administration engage more forcefully with the EU, and keep engaged no matter how tough the discussions get. Your observation is right on the mark.
Sarwar
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