European Commission Directorate-General for Trade

United States

The European Union and the United States have the largest bilateral trade and investment relationship and enjoy the most integrated economic relationship in the world.

 

 

 

Trade picture

• Total US investment in the EU is three times higher than in all of Asia.
• EU investment in the US is around eight times the amount of EU investment in India and China together.
• EU and US investments are the real driver of the transatlantic relationship, contributing to growth and jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. It is estimated that a third of the trade across the Atlantic actually consists of intra-company transfers.
• The transatlantic relationship also defines the shape of the global economy as a whole. Either the EU or the US is the largest trade and investment partner for almost all other countries in the global economy.
• The EU and the US economies account together for about half the entire world GDP and for nearly a third of world trade flows.

EU and United States

Given the low average tariffs (under 3%), the key to unlocking this potential lies in the tackling of non-tariff barriers. These consist mainly of customs procedures and behind the border regulatory restrictions.

The non-tariff barriers come from diverging regulatory systems (standards definitions notably), but also other non-tariff measures, such as those related to certain aspects of security or consumer protection.

The Transatlantic Economic Council was set up in 2007 to guide the work on transatlantic economic convergence. The TEC is the only EU-US high level forum in which economic issues can be discussed in a coherent and coordinated manner. It brings together a range of ongoing economic cooperation activities in issues of mutual interest and provides a platform to give political guidance to this work. It also provides a political forum for discussing strategic global economic questions.

The TEC brings together members of the European Commission and the US Cabinet who have political responsibility for closer economic ties. Three "advisory" groups have been set up to help guide the work of the TEC:

• the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue
• the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue
• the Transatlantic Business Dialogue

In addition, civil society is consulted on the TEC's objectives and debriefed after its annual meetings.

• More information on TEC

Inevitably for two economies of such size with such a high volume of trade, the EU and the US encounter a number of trade disputes which are handled through the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO.

Although they tend to grab headlines, these disputes currently only affect some 2% of EU-US trade.

• More information on the current EU-US trade disputes

The TTIP negotiations were launched in 2013 and ended without conclusion at the end of 2016. A Council decision of 15 April 2019 states that the negotiating directives for the TTIP are obsolete and no longer relevant.

• EU negotiating texts in TTIP

Trading with the United States

• Rules and requirements for trading with the United States
  • Importing into the EU from the United States
    • EU trade defence measures on imports from the United States
  • Exporting from the EU to the United States
    • Trade defence measures in force in the United States
• Related links
  • The EU is present on the ground in United States
  • Trade relations are part of the EU's overall political and economic relations with United States
  • The United States is a member of the World Trade Organisation
  • Transatlantic cooperation in eHealth and Health information technologies
• EU-US Economic Studies
  • Impact Assessment on the future of EU-US Trade Relations
    • Executive Summary