The European Commission published today its annual report on barriers to trade and investment in the U.S. The report details obstacles that EU exporters and investors face when seeking to enter the U.S. market, including issues subject to ongoing WTO disputes. Trade disputes only represent a minor proportion of the value of overall EU-U.S. trade, but raising and addressing these issues helps boost confidence in the transatlantic market and reap its full potential benefits.
- The report highlights increasing concern about the potential impact to EU supply chains of new U.S. national security legislation governing ports and freight, and problems arising from regulatory divergences. - The report describes the difficulties in accessing the public procurement market in the U.S. due to complex restrictions.
- On a positive note, the report acknowledges the successful resolution in 2007 of a long-running trade dispute following the U.S.’s decision to repeal countervailing duties previously imposed on privatized EU exporters.
The European Union and the United States share the largest bilateral trading partnership worldwide, with 33 percent of world trade in goods, and 42 percent of world trade in services. As key global trading partners, the EU is committed to working with the United States to break down barriers on both sides of the Atlantic, and this dialogue has been further progressed in 2007 through the establishment of the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC).
Background
At the EU-U.S. Summit on April 30, 2007, Commission President Barroso, German Chancellor Merkel and U.S. President Bush signed the “Framework for Advancing Transatlantic Economic Integration between the USA and the EU” adopting a work program of cooperation and establishing the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) to oversee, guide and accelerate its implementation.
The Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) aims to integrate EU/U.S. economies even more fully by identifying key areas where greater convergence between economies and systems could reap rewards on both sides of the Atlantic. Bringing together government, industry, labor and consumers, the TEC holds the promise of an ever deeper and more mutually productive transatlantic relationship. At the first TEC meeting in November 2007, important progress was achieved in areas such as the launching of the investment dialogue, the negotiations on mutual recognition of accounting standards, and of U.S. and EU trade partnership programs, secure cargo, and a number of more technical regulatory issues.
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