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European AmChams Make the Case for TTIP in California


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European AmChams Make the Case for TTIP in California

Business

Category: Trade

U.S. relations with trading partners across the Atlantic and around the Pacific, as well as federal Trade Promotion Authority legislation were the topics of discussion at a recent forum presented by the California Chamber of Commerce Council for International Trade.

More than 200 forum attendees joined two ambassadors and representatives from the U.S.Chamber of Commerce and five American Chambers of Commerce abroad to discuss these vital international trade issues.

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Europe and the United States are negotiating trade talks for a potential Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to further the largest regional trading and investment relationship in the world.

The transAtlantic economic partnership is a key driver of global economic growth, trade and prosperity, and represents the largest, most integrated and longest-standing regional economic relationship in the world.

“The transAtlantic relationship and the transAtlantic corridor still remains the most important economic corridor in the world,” European Union Ambassador to the United States David O’Sullivan said. “It accounts for half of world GDP and nearly a third of world trade flows.”

Together, the European Union and the United States are responsible for 11.5% of the world’s population, nearly half of global gross domestic product (GDP), 30% of global merchandise trade, and 40% of world trade in services. The transAtlantic relationship defines the shape of the global economy as a whole; either the European Union or the United States also is the largest trade and investment partner for almost all other countries.

According to Ambassador O’Sullivan, no other commercial artery in the world is as integrated.

According to the World Bank, the EU market represents 506.7 million people, and has a total GDP of $17.4 trillion. The United States has more than 316.1 million people and a GDP of $16.8 trillion.

Total bilateral goods trade between the European Union and United States was nearly $650 billion in 2013, with the United States exporting $262 billion worth of goods to EU member nations.

“California is the most important state actor in terms of trade and investment for the EU,” Ambassador O’Sullivan said.

California exports to the European Union in 2014 totaled $29.6 billion. California is one of the top exporting states to Europe, with computers, electronic products and chemical manufactures as the state’s leading export sectors to the region. EU countries purchase roughly 17% of all California exports. For California companies, the single market presents a stable market with huge opportunity.

Source: CalChamber

Published: February 6, 2015