The U.S. and EU will Meet Before the End of This July to Establish a Trade Alliance

2013-03-05

The U.S. and EU will meet to reach an ambitious goal – to establish a trade alliance that will cover 50% of the global production output and one third of the global trade. This meeting was announced by President Obama after his State of the Union speech. Mr. Obama said that U.S. will meet with the EU for bilateral trade talk. Jose Manuel Barroso, chairman of European Commission, indicated on Wednesday that a set of standards will be established in the talk and will be applicable to future bilateral trade and investment (including regulatory issues) as well as future development of the rules governing global trade. In a joint statement of the two sides, necessary internal procedure will be activated so as to start the talk on “transatlantic trade and investment partnership”. The statement also points out that the transatlantic trade represents 50% of global economic output, and total monetary value of the corresponding commercial products and services approach USD 1,000 billion; in addition, the transatlantic trade provides millions of jobs on the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The statement also voices “we will strive to make this partnership a driving force of our prosperity”. Also, in the statement, it is predicted that, in 2027, economies of EU and the U.S. will grow by about 0.5% (an increase of USD 115.8 billion) and 0.4% (an increase of 65 billion euros), respectively.