US businesses call for ‘transatlantic single market’[de] 

Although the transatlantic relationship is often overshadowed by press reports about political bickering and commercial frictions, the figures published by the Centre for Transatlantic Relations show that trade and investment flows between the world’s two largest economies are thriving. Nevertheless, still more must be done to break down remaining barriers between them. 

Speaking at the first transatlantic conference, US businesses in Europe urged EU and US leaders to stop neglecting the transatlantic relationship in favour of boosting relations with China and India. 

They explained that the two economies have become so highly interdependent that their future growth and job creation relies not on improving their relations with China and India, nor in completing a successful Doha Round, but in removing existing barriers to trade and investment in order to create a veritable "transatlantic single market". 

According to Dr. Daniel Hamilton, director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations of the Johns Hopkins University, in 2005, the US invested in China only 23% of what it invested in Belgium. Even in "slow-growth Germany", investment from the US was four times higher than in China. "Everyone talks about China but the action is actually somewhere else," he said. 

Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations Joseph Quinlan added: "China will change the world one day, but, for the moment, it remains a much- less attractive market than the EU for the US, because it continues to drag its feet on regulatory barriers." 

US Ambassador to the EU Boyden Gray said: "We tend to take this relationship for granted," and cautioned leaders to address frictions between the two economies "otherwise the figures will go down". The main problem, he said, is the tendency to over-regulate in Europe. This often affects US companies negatively, as does REACH, the new Community chemicals regulation, and as would the proposed tax on aircraft based on CO2 emissions. He accused the Commission of allowing itself to be pressured into corners by member states, which, according to him, have far too much control over policymaking.