COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION
TO THE COUNCIL,
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
AND THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE
THE NEW TRANSATLANTIC MARKETPLACE
Annex
KEY ECONOMIC FIGURES
From an economic viewpoint, the Transatlantic partners enjoy a
high degree of integration. The EU and the US are each other’s single
largest trading partner (taking goods and services together), and
each other's most important source and destination for foreign direct
investment (FDI). Their economic relationship is characterised by
a high degree of intra-industry, intra-firm trade and trade in intermediate
products. Transatlantic firms are increasingly using new and innovative
ways of doing business, including by means of electronic commerce.
In 1996 two way trade in goods and services amounted to
more than 355 bn ECUs. The EU and the US each account for around
19% of each other’s total trade in goods which in 1996 amounted
to 227 bn ECUs. The trade relationship is not only large in size,
but it is also substantially balanced. Transatlantic trade is concentrated
in sophisticated high-technology products. It is estimated that
the latter products account for 20% of total EU-US merchandise trade.
The area of trade in services appears particularly dynamic.
Transatlantic trade in services figures show that while in 1985
EU-US bilateral trade in services accounted for 32% of total bilateral
trade, by 1995 this figure had risen to over 38% of total bilateral
trade. In 1996 the combined cross-border trade in services reached
128 bn ECUs. This remarkable increase still leaves considerable
scope for trade growth given the fact that the services sector has
become the largest and fastest growing part of both economies. In
fact, services currently account for more than 66% of total value
added in the EU economies on average, and more than 70% in the US,
and for comparable shares of employment. In comparison, the share
of services in world production amounts to above 50%. As a consequence,
the EU and the US are the world leaders in services trade, accounting
for 47% of world exports in services.
The importance of the EU-US investment relationship is demonstrated
by the level of FDI stocks, with each of the two sides being the
other's largest investor. By 1996 cross investment stocks between
the EU and the US on a historical-cost basis reached 720 bn USD,
by far the largest investment relationship in the world. EU investment
in the US was valued 372 bn USD and the US investment position in
the EU was estimated to reach 348 bn USD. The EU therefore is by
far the biggest investor in the US accounting for 59% of total FDI
stock by 1996. At the same time 44% of US FDI stock was located
in the EU. As with the bilateral trade relationship, investment
stocks are both balanced and substantial. They have also been growing
very quickly over the past few years, doubling between 1989 and
1996. The service sector plays an increasing role as destination
of FDI, with a yearly average share of cross border investment flows
in services of total FDI in the period 1992-1995 close to 50%, although
the main beneficiary of EU investment in the US is still the manufacturing
sector.
