Transatlantic Economic Relations Research Articles

Sanctions as a Socio-Political Factor of International Cooperation (on the Example of the Influence of Modern Russian-German Relations on the International System)

Introduction. The research work defines the current significance of international sanctions, examines the types of sanctions, the goals of their imposition and the consequences for the international system. As an example, anti-Russian sanctions and retaliatory measures are being analyzed, as well as their influence on relations between the states. In the study an assessment of the development of Russian-German cooperation in various fields before and after the imposition of sanctions is given.Methodology and sources. Such research methods as analysis, synthesis, comparison, statistical methods are used in the research work. Import-export relations between Russia and Germany are analyzed in the paper.Results and discussion. Russia incurs heavy losses from sanctions compared to the European Union. Anti-Russian sanctions do not contribute to the development of free international trade. The European Union is having difficulty maintaining transatlantic economic relations. The imposition of US extraterritorial sanctions is detrimental to German and other European companies. Both European countries and Russia have internal problems, which are aggravated by the sanctions confrontation.Conclusion. Despite all the existing problems and obstacles that stand in the way of bilateral relations, there are positive trends in them. Russia and Germany, in general, have adapted to the sanctions regime. Anti-Russian sanctions will probably not be lifted in the short term.

TTIP Negotiations and Public Procurement: Internal Federalist Tensions and External Risks of Marginalisation

Abstract Government procurement is perhaps one of the most underexplored areas in the recent academic literature on transatlantic economic relations, yet it was also one of the most protected economic sectors addressed in the now derailed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. Even though the European Union (EU) and the United States have undertaken extensive reciprocal procurement commitments under the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), as well as in their respective preferential trade agreements (PTAs), the liberalisation and harmonisation of the transatlantic procurement market could not be more ambiguous or controversial. This article aims to deepen our understanding of crucial aspects of the contemporary EU–United States procurement relationship. To this end, the article explores the TTIP negotiations as well as similar PTAs and underlines the potential implications in terms of the fragmentation of the international discipline of procurement regulation.

Spain in the EU and transatlantic economic relations

The article analyzes the importance of transatlantic economic relations for economy of Spain and for its positions in the EU. Special attention is given to institutional and structural factors which make impact on development of transatlantic economic interaction.

TTIP Negotiations and Public Procurement: A Federalist Approach

Government procurement is perhaps one of the most under-explored areas in the recent academic literature on transatlantic economic relations and yet it is also one of the most protected economic sectors addressed in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. Even though the EU and the US have undertaken extensive reciprocal procurement commitments under the WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement, as well as in their respective preferential trade agreements (PTAs), the liberalisation and harmonisation of the transatlantic procurement market could not be more ambiguous or controversial. This paper aims to deepen our understanding of crucial aspects of the current EU–US procurement relationship. To this end, the paper explores the TTIP negotiations as well as similar PTAs and underlines the potential implications in terms of the fragmentation of the international discipline of procurement regulation.

After Hegemony: Transatlantic Economic Relations in the Next Decade

(1984). After hegemony: Transatlantic economic relations in the next decade. The International Spectator: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 3-9.

Економічна складова сучасного трансатлантичного співробітництва

У статті досліджено специфіку сучасних трансатлантичних економічних відносин. Автор розглядає історичні основи їх формування, аналізує інституційну складову, вивчає якісні і кількісні показники, оцінює перспективи партнерства, зокрема створення трансатлантичної зони вільної торгівлі. Економічний чинник відіграє вагому роль у становленні міжнародних відносин. Він являє собою детермінанту в процесі обрання напрямів та шляхів співпраці та є індикатором міцності трансатлантичного співробітництва. Поглиблення інтеграційних процесів на теренах Європи, починаючи з другої половини ХХ століття, та оформлення США як глобального лідера заклали фундамент сучасної трансатлантичної співпраці. Дослідження економічної складової американсько­європейських відносин надає можливість пошуку найбільш прогресивних підходів до об’єднання європейських держав з метою захисту спільних інтере­сів, зважаючи на той факт, що Сполучені Штати є не лише сильним союзником, але й гідним конкурентом на міжнародній арені. Основні поставлені та досягнуті завдання наукової розвідки: комплексний аналіз трансатлантичного економічного партнерства; визначення взаємозв’язку економік США та ЄС; огляд показників взаємного товарообміну обох потуг; оцінка перспективи створення трансатлантичної зони вільної торгівлі.

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF THE US-EU ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Economies of the USA and the EU are the main engines of the international economics system. The overall world economic growth and the quality of life depends on their development based on their economic partnership within their foreign trade relations. The article deals with the mutually problematic US – EU trade issues within the transatlantic economic relations. The paper is focused on problematic aspect analyses such as the US and the EU common trade agenda, the WTO dispute settlements regarding the most diverse’ trade aspect issues – antidumping, countervailing procedures, trade wars and so on. The aim of the paper is, based on the EU and the US trade policies and their WTO’s dispute settlements analysis, to find out whether and to what measure the problematic trade issues between the US and the EU can affect their economic cooperation in the global system of international economics. The hypothesis is set that the problematic US – EU trade issues such as trade wars and antidumping and countervailing dispute settlements, excecuted at the WTO field have no negative impact on the US – EU economic relations and the collaboration in the world economy. The paper attempts find out if and to what extent the problematic trade issues between the US and the EU may affect their economic cooperation in the global system of international economic relations. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.em.19.1.5604

Transatlantic Economic Relations and the Prospects of a New Partnership

The paper analyzes the international context in which negotiations between the European Union and United States on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership have been launched in July 2013. This context includes both the repeated failures of the Doha Round negotiations as well as the previous attempts and achievements of the European Union and United States to create a transatlantic partnership. The author considers that the current circumstances are more favourable for the successful finalization of the transatlantic partnership but, at the same time, stresses the sensitive issues that may delay or divert the negotiations. The paper concludes that there are many possible immediate positive consequences on economic growth and creation of jobs of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership as well as a high potential to expand its implementation in North America through NAFTA and in some other countries that have free trade agreements with either the European Union or the United States.

A Social Dimension for Transatlantic Economic Relations

Transatlantic Economic Relations (TER) was neglected by politicians for much of the twentieth century as international security issues took priority. Since the end of the Cold War, however, and as economic issues have come to prominence TER has assumed increasing importance and yet is largely overlooked in academic discussion. This report places TER in its historical context and demonstrates how the political agenda and institutional setup are both largely dysfunctional. Viewed through the prism of industrial relations and drawing on some real life examples from both sides of the Atlantic, it argues that the social dimension is a challenge central to the future development of the relationship and proposes institutional innovations which could also be replicated in other areas: for instance in support of environmental concerns. Presenting some guiding principles for transatlantic trade, this paper recommends the creation of a new secretariat to act as a permanent contact point and providing a variety of practical functions essential to making TER work.

Making Transatlantic Economic Relations Work

Relative to security issues, Transatlantic Economic Relations (TER) has been neglected by politicians and underexplored by academics and yet is of increasing importance. This article argues that TER is characterised by the mutual dysfunctionality of the political agenda and its institutional structure. The traditional narrow agenda, which has focused almost exclusively on reducing non-tariff trade barriers, is a principal reason for this. This article uses the case of industrial and labour relations to demonstrate that greater engagement with major stakeholders and broadening the political agenda are key to breaking the deadlock. The article also argues for institutional innovations that could in principle be transferred to other neglected policy areas of TER.

Introduction: Transatlantic Governance in Historical and Theoretical Perspective

In this introduction to our book Transatlantic Governance in the Global Economy, we examine the record of transatlantic economic relations, at three levels: the intergovernmental level, where chiefs of government and other high level officials negotiate on behalf of the United States’ and European Union’s respective interests, as determined by internal domestic processes; the transgovernmental level, where lower-level domestic officials work with their transatlantic counterparts on specific issues to coordinate and harmonize domestic policies; and the transnational level, where private actors, including business representatives and other constituents, coordinate efforts to advance their respective goals. Each of these three levels corresponds to a specific body of theory in international relations, including neoliberal regime theory and two-level games, transgovernmental and network approaches, and transnational and global civil society approaches, respectively. We examine two primary sets of questions. First, we seek to explain the development of new and increasingly elaborate mechanisms for transatlantic governance, asking what is new about these mechanisms, and why these actors opted for intensive bilateral cooperation at this time. Put concisely, these three questions ask, “what’s new?” “why transatlantic?” and “why now?” Second, we ask about the nature of cooperation at each of the three levels identified above. Section I places the transatlantic economic relationship in historical and global context. Section II reviews the literature on each of the three theoretical perspectives and provides clear definitions of intergovernmentalism, transgovernmentalism, and transnationalism to guide the analysis. Section III introduces the nine substantive chapters of the volume, divided symmetrically so that three chapters address each level of analysis.

Transatlantic Economic Relations in a Changing Global Political Economy: Achieving Togetherness but Missing the Bus?

This article focuses on the changing context for transatlantic relations within the global political economy. The first part of the article identifies key areas of structural change in the GPE and in particular the potentially revolutionary shifts caused by global instability and the emergence of new economic powers. The argument then explores changing patterns of economic relations between the EU and the US, within a general framework of continuity created by the coexistence of competition and convergence. These contextual factors are then related to patterns of Atlanticism and transatlanticism, to questions of values and identities in the GPE and to the possibility of an EU–US ‘grand strategy’ for the changing GPE. The conclusion argues that although there is perhaps more secure ground for a sustainable EU–US ‘compact’ than previously, the EU and the US may have ‘missed the bus’ in terms of jointly shaping the future of the global economy.

Junior Partner Canada

We know that the friendly ties between Europe and the United States and Canada are unique and without alternative. There is no lack of shared challenge. I believe they are more likely to increase than decrease. But we know together as partners we are strong.1During the course of Germany's EU council presidency in 2007, Canada was mentioned often in official speeches, government documents, and petitions. Nonetheless, EU-Canadian economic integration was not a serious priority for Germany-or for that matter the European Union. The EU-Canada economic partnership project remained vague in design and scope; there was no mention of free trade or a transatlantic marketplace. Instead, Chancellor Angela Merkel concentrated on an EU-US-centred transatlantic marketplace. This article outlines and explains the dominance of the United States in Merkel' s transatlantic market place initiative. The first part analyses official documents and speeches from Germany's EU council presidency to show how and when Canada appears on Merkel' s transatlantic agenda. The second part of the article explains Canada's role in transatlantic economic relations by evaluating commercial ties, interests, and strategies. The article concludes that the fate of the EU-Canada economic partnership project depends very much on high-level support on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the development of a clear vision. Otherwise the initiative is destined to fail, as have many of its predecessors.GERMANY'S EU PRESIDENCY: APUSH FOR DEEPER TRANSATLANTIC INTEGRATION? EU-US ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND THE TRANSATLANTIC MARKETPLACEOn 1 January 2007, Germany took over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union. During its tenure, Germany proved to be a strong strategic leader with regard to transatlantic economic integration. The initiative for a transatlantic marketplace came directly from the chancellery and was driven at the highest political level from fall 2006. In contrast to other trade issues on the presidency's agenda, the chancellery was in charge of Merkels transatlantic initiative, with the groundwork being carried out by the federal ministry of economics and technology (BMWi) and the federal foreign ministry, via their respective country desks.The chancellor announced her idea to create a transatlantic free trade area in September 2006, reacting to the lack of progress in the WTO Doha round of negotiations and rising global competition due to the economic emergence of China and India. At first Merkel's initiative, which was at the time still vague, caused reactions in Berlin and Brussels that ranged from the reserved to the outright critical. It was not clear what she had in mind, a free trade area along the lines of previous proposals or deeper internal market integration. The idea of using a European-US free trade area as a bulwark against the leading emerging economies was particularly strongly criticized. Bernd Pfaffenbach, state secretary in the BMWi, described the initiative as the deathblow of the Doha round. EU Commissioner Peter Mandelson warned that the rest of the world would react with dismay if the two largest economic powers agreed to exclusive trade preferences.2.Above all, the idea of a transatlantic FTA met with resistance because it is no longer deemed appropriate, given that free trade agreements have hardly any effect on non-tariff barriers (FTAs, by definition, focus on the elimination of tariffs). Average customs duties in transatlantic trade, with the exception of some areas with high import tariffs, such as trade in agriculture and textiles, are now extremely low-less than four percent. The problem lies with non-tariff barriers, which continue to represent a serious impediment to market access. These barriers are to be found in standards set for industrial goods-in testing, licensing, and accounting-as well as in customs systems and in the area of government procurement. According to the OECD, liberalizing transatlantic trade could therefore result in considerable growth of up to three percent of GDP for both trade partners. …

Bureaucratic Diplomacy: Technocratic Cooperation in Transatlantic Trade Relations

Cooperating on Competition in Transatlantic Economic Relations: The Politics of Dispute Prevention. By Damro Chad. Basingstoke (England); New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 214 pp., hardcover, $69.95 (ISBN-13: 978-1403987143). Bureaucrats are perhaps the unsung heroes of international cooperation. Widely politicized transatlantic disputes surrounding the 1997 Boeing-McDonnell Douglas and 2001 General Electric-Honeywell mergers have grossly distorted our perception of transatlantic trade relations, Damro claims in Cooperating on Competition in Transatlantic Economic Relations . In reality, competition regulators in the US and the European Union have cooperated extensively since the 1990s, sharing information, taking into consideration each other's interests in cases of concurrent jurisdiction, and even promoting rule convergence. After decades of adversarial relations, a framework of bureaucratic cooperation is now in place that prevents the bulk of possible EU–US conflicts over mergers. What makes this framework successful, according to the author, is precisely that it stays below the political radar of legislators and the media. Regulators have designed cooperative mechanisms that allow technocracy to prevail over politics while carefully respecting the boundaries of administrative discretion. This, in a nutshell, is Damro's argument. The bulk of the literature on international cooperation focuses on non-discretionary and legalistic forms of dispute settlement and formal international organizations. More recently, non-governmental actors have risen to prominence in studies of international cooperation. But Damro draws our attention to cooperative agreements negotiated and implemented by regulatory agents , who deliberately seek to depoliticize their sphere of action. Competition regulators, he shows, eschew possible conflicts by choosing non-treaty mechanisms of cooperation that do not require any organizational apparatus of their own. Damro thus refines existing theories …

Book Review: Cooperating on Competition in Transatlantic Economic Relations: The Politics of Dispute Prevention, by Chad Damro. (Palgrave, Hampshire and New York, 2006)

Book Review: <i>Cooperating on Competition in Transatlantic Economic Relations: The Politics of Dispute Prevention</i>, by Chad Damro. (Palgrave, Hampshire and New York, 2006)

Transatlantic economic relations: continuity amid discord

The European Union (EU) and the United States are the world's largest and most-interconnected economies. In the 1990s, they engaged in a series of joint initiatives designed further to liberalise the transatlantic marketplace through cooperation in trade and regulatory matters, including pursuant to the 1995 New Transatlantic Agenda. From 2000 to 2004, however, political tensions between the US and Europe intensified, as conflicts arose over the war in Iraq, the International Criminal Court, and the Kyoto Protocol, triggering fears that political turmoil could disrupt the mutually beneficial transatlantic economic relationship. Despite the political challenges, the transatlantic economic relationship has demonstrated extraordinary continuity and resilience amid the discord. The US/EU economic relationship has been subject to intensive disputes in areas such as steel, airplanes, and genetically modified foods, but there is little sign that the election of George W. Bush or the 2003 invasion of Iraq was responsible for these tensions, which arose primarily from pre-existing divergent domestic political pressures. This relative insulation of the economic relationship from the dispute over the Iraq war, however, does not imply that power politics is unimportant in the economic realm, and indeed we argue that outcomes in the economic realm are shaped significantly by differences in US and EU market and institutional power in different sectors.

Commentary: A European Perspective on Services Negotiations

A commentary on J. Robert Vastine's article "Services Negotiations in the Doha Round: Promise and Reality." Julian Braithwaite has been the Head of the Global Issues Group in the British Embassy in Washington, DC, since September 2004. The Global Issues Group focuses on transatlantic economic relations relating in particular to trade and agriculture policy, energy, and the environment. Braithwaite joined the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1994. He worked on British and EU policy in the former Yugoslavia from 1994 to 1998, serving for two years in the British Embassy in Belgrade. From 1998 to 2002, he was seconded to 10 Downing Street, where he worked on communication issues, including speechwriting for the Prime Minister and EU affairs. From 2002 to 2004 he was seconded to the executive office of High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lord Paddy Ashdown. He has also been seconded to the UN (Office of the UNSRSG to the former Yugoslavia) in 1995 and NATO (SACEUR’s Executive Office) in 1999. He was educated at Cambridge and Harvard Universities.

Europe and America: The Economic Ties that Bind

Transatlantic economic relations will provide the glue that holds the partnership of America and Europe together even as conflicting interests in other areas may push them apart.

Transatlantic competition and European defence industries: a new look at the trade—defence linkage

The competitive environment of transatlantic economic relations has changed considerably in recent years, and this change generally has not been in favour of European industry and trade. The United States has reaffirmed its technological lead in a time of increasingly rapid technological change, and it is practising a new assertiveness in security and defence policy as well as in international trade policy and export promotion. This article analyses these developments and their implications for European defence industries as well as for Europe's industrial competitiveness and trade performance beyond the defence sector.

Book Notes

The Road to Europe: History, Institutions and Prospects of European Integration 1945–2993, by D.W.P. Lewis, with a Preface by H. Brugmans The Future of Europe, by P. Coffey What's What and Who's Who in Europe: The Pre‐eminent Factbook on People, Places, Organizations, Events and Terms across Europe, by Harry Drost The European Union: Readings on the Theory and Practice of European Integration, edited by Brent F. Nelsen and Alexander C‐G. Stubb A Selective Bibliography of Books on European Integration 1990–1994, compiled by Eva Evans The Government and Politics of the European Union, by Neill Nugent Naissance et deéveloppement de l'information européenne, edited by Felice Dassetto and Michel Dumoulin Jahrbuch der Europáischen Integration 1993/94, edited by W. Weidenfeld and W. Wessels Survey of Current Political Science Research on European Integration Worldwide, 1991–1994, edited by G. Ciavarina Azzi Ageing and the Care of Older People in Europe, by Richard Hugman Assured Performance: The Role of Conformity Assessment in Supporting the Internal Market, by Henrique Macahdo Jorge Prevention at the Workplace, by Laurent Vogel, tr. Glenn Robertson The European Economy in Perspective, Essays in honour of Edward Nevin, edited by Jeffrey Round Economic Integration in Europe and North America, edited by M. Panic and A.M. Vacic Regional Futures and Transatlantic Economic Relations, by Miles Kahler Droit et politique de la Communautéet de l'Union Européennes, 3rd edn, by Gerard Druesne European Community Law—An Introduction, by D.A.O. Edward and R.C. Lane Launching Europe: An Ethnography of European Cooperation in Space, by Stacia E. Zabusky Monetary Theory: National and International, by Alvaro Cencini Transport Policy—Ways into Europe's Future, by Kenneth Button