2021 was a record-breaking year for the transatlantic economy, new report shows

A new survey from the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (AmCham EU) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports that the transatlantic trade and investment relationship hit record-breaking numbers in 2021. The findings come out against a difficult political and economic backdrop, with the war raging in Ukraine and after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Inflation, congested supply chains, scarcity of raw materials and energy prices also add to global uncertainty. Despite this, the report demonstrates the resilience of the transatlantic economy and outlines avenues to strengthen the EU-US partnership with initiatives such as the Trade and Technology Council. To download the study, please click here.

News
21 Mar 2022
2021 was a record-breaking year for the transatlantic economy, new report shows

The Transatlantic Economy 2022 highlights how the EU-US relationship remains the largest of its kind in the world. The transatlantic economic partnership generates around €5.5 trillion ($6 trillion) in commercial sales a year and accounts for half of total global personal consumption. No place in the world attracts more US foreign direct investment (FDI) than Europe. Since the beginning of this decade, Europe has attracted 62.6% of total US global investment. 

In 2021, transatlantic trade in goods reached €1 trillion ($1.1 trillion). US foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Europe rose to €230 billion ($253 billion), while US foreign affiliate income earned in Europe amounted to an estimated €272 billion ($300 billion) – 2.7 times more than income earned in all of Asia.

What to look out for in this new edition?

  • How the war in Ukraine affects the US and European economies

  • What COVID-19, trade spats and congested supply chains mean for the transatlantic economy

  • How US-Europe commercial relations compare with those each has with China and others

  • Data on the rise of the transatlantic energy economy

  • Changing dynamics of post-Brexit relations with the UK

  • Individual profiles for 30 European countries and all 50 US states

The research was conducted independently by Daniel Hamilton and Joseph Quinlan at the Foreign Policy Institute, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University and the Transatlantic Leadership Network.

The data is also available on Thriving Together, an online platform that showcases the deep ties that bind Europe and the United States, including numbers from The Transatlantic Economy 2022. Visit the platform: thrivingtogether.eu.

 

The American Chambers of Commerce in Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden are partners of this year’s edition.

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This week the European Commission unveiled its Tech Sovereignty Package. While the Package’s energy proposals mark a significant step forward for EU energy resilience, the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) proposal overlooks the reality of global technology supply chains and introduces significant legal uncertainty and fragmentation for businesses.

The central question for the Tech Sovereignty Package is how to build resilience without undermining competitiveness. Concerns around overdependence on a limited number of providers, the risk of external disruption to service continuity and the long-term position of the EU’s digital industries are all legitimate. However, greater sovereignty will only be sustainable if it is built on a competitive, diverse and innovative digital ecosystem. The technologies that underpin the global digital economy are developed through highly international supply chains, with innovation spread across multiple markets.

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‘A more credible path to achieving greater resilience and control in such an interconnected landscape is to define sovereignty in terms of outcomes: secure and reliable technologies, customer choice, strong safeguards against undue interference and a business environment that supports investment and growth. That points to a risk-based framework where the EU is open to working with trusted partners. This trust should be assessed on the basis of objective standards rather than origin alone’, Mr Lohan added.

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The Package’s Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in energy is a positive step that could help unlock the benefits of digitalisation for Europe’s energy needs, enabling faster and more flexible grids. Digitalisation provides new opportunities to strengthen the reliability and resilience of energy systems. If executed well, the roadmap could support the growing demand of Europe’s digital and AI sectors for low-carbon energy.

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