The report of the Transatlantic Taskforce on Trade and Investment A New Era for Transatlantic Trade Leadership was launched in Europe through a series of events in Paris (February 14), Brussels (February 15) and Berlin (February 17). The taskforce, a joint initiative by GMF and the European Center for International Political Economy (ECIPE), started its work last spring to discuss how the U.S. and the EU can forge a stronger relationship to continue to lead global trade and investment policy in the near future. In the three capitals, participants and commentators all pointed to the timeliness of the report as an opportunity for rethinking transatlantic trade policy.

In Paris, representatives of the OECD, French and international economic and academic circles, and various embassies were present. While several participants agreed that the taskforce was addressing the right questions, the discussion focused on the legal and political challenges that would surround the implementation of a new legal framework for transatlantic trade, the way in which public opinion would respond to such an agreement and the way the business community would support it.

The launch of the report in Brussels attracted a large crowd of representatives from EU institutions, member states, businesses, academia and the think tank community. In their respective keynote addresses, the two co-chairs of the taskforce, Ewa Björling, Swedish Trade Minister, and Jim Kolbe, GMF Senior Transatlantic Fellow, insisted on the need to foster more open trade between the two continents and to revitalize cooperation towards a globalized bilateral trade agenda. In their presentation of the report’s findings and recommendations, Bruce Stokes, GMF Senior Transatlantic Fellow and Fredrik Erikson, Director of ECIPE, highlighted the taskforce’s pragmatism. The taskforce argues that deeper bilateral transatlantic economic integration is essential for recovery from the current economic crisis; the EU and the U.S. can exercise the leadership required to kick-start global trade liberalization and strengthen the multilateral trading system of the WTO. Bilateral gains resulting in deeper EU-U.S. economic integration would spur new initiatives in the global economy.

The presentation of the report was followed by a panel discussion between the co-chairs and Taskforce members Erika Mann, Director for Europe at Facebook, and Hugo Paemen, former EU Ambassador to the United States and Senior Advisor for Hogan Lovells. The discussion, moderated by Fredrik Erixon, allowed the speakers to give their views on the state of play in the United States and the EU in deepening the economic relationship and on what can realistically be done for greater transatlantic leadership in global trade policy. Answering comments, they argued that the report did not call for a traditional Free Trade Agreement (FTA) but recommended deeper sectoral bilateral agreements between the EU and the United States. Participants welcomed the suggestion of a bottom-up strategy for negotiations on non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and the active participation of stakeholders in preparatory works. Peter Balas, Deputy Director General for Trade at the European Commission, closed the event by re-emphasizing the timeliness of the report and by stating that the EU is considering all options with regards the transatlantic relationship.

The launch event in Berlin, held in cooperation with the Federation of German Industries (BDI), drew an audience of experts and representatives from major companies, such as Daimler and Deutsche Bank, the German Ministry of Economics, and the wider transatlantic community. The taskforce report was well received by the audience, being lauded as “superbly timed” and as a “great impetus” for pushing the debate on transatlantic trade integration. Several participants emphasized that the focus on “jobs and growth” can be a key selling point to policymakers across Europe and the United States in this time of crisis. Business representatives also pointed out that Chancellor Merkel had already promoted the idea of a “transatlantic trade zone” in 2006 but the proposal was not taken up by the U.S. administration at that time. Other questions and comments were generally related to specific aspects of the report’s recommendations and their practical implementation - for example,  how to secure the support of special interest groups and how to integrate interested third parties into the trade zone.