Opening Up the Transatlantic Market

Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany and president of the G-8, urges a transatlantic free-trade agreement. Except for a few high-profile squabbles, trade barriers between the two continents are already low and the US Senate has already given its approval of such an agreement, note transatlantic analysts Daniel Hamilton and Joseph Quinlan. The authors point out that a US state like Illinois has more European investment than all US investment in China and Japan combined. Opening markets would offer substantial benefits for EU and US consumers, boosting travel and financial trade. Agreement on regulations could reduce the price of cars and other products. Critics suggest that such an agreement might damage multilateral agreements with other countries. Yet Hamilton and Quinlan argue that Europe and the US share an interest in state-of-the-art finance, medicine, energy, technology and other industries. Rather than scrap over subsidies for agriculture and other relatively small markets, the US and EU could cooperate in tackling major global problems. – YaleGlobal