European trade with the United States

European trade with the United States: Historical Background

European trade with the United States: Protectionism and New Policies

European trade with the United States: The European Union

United States Trade with the European Union, 1997-2007

Significance: Europe has always been an important trading partner of the United States, consistently providing a major import-export market. As the United States and Europe have increased investment in each other’s domestic economy through corporate globalization, their trading relationship has become more open and free of barriers, resulting in economic growth for both.

The United States’ primary import-export market has been Canada and the European nations, especially Great Britain. After World War II, the United States began to trade with more countries, including those in Latin and South America, Asia, Australia, and Africa; however, until that time, foreign trade was generally understood to mean trading with Canada and Europe.

Further Reading

• Baldwin, Robert E., Carl B. Hamilton, and Andre Sapir, eds. Issues in U.S.-EC Trade Relations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. Discusses the European Community (European Union’s predecessor) and its relation with the United States. Essays with commentaries giving both U.S. and EC opinions on issues. Author and subject indexes.
• Cohen, Stephen D., et al., eds. Fundamentals of U.S. Foreign Trade Policy. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2002. Chapters on U.S.-EU relations, U.S. legislation regulating imports and exports, and who does what in U.S. trade policy. Index. Appendix of Web sites on international trade.
• Featherstone, Kevin, and Roy H. Ginsberg. The United States and the European Union in the 1990’s. New York: St. Martin’s, 1996. Discuses economic interdependence of the United States and the European Union. Tables, appendixes.
• Hamilton, Daniel S., and Joseph P. Quinlan. Partners in Prosperity: The Changing Geography of the Transatlantic Economy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. Looks at the ever-increasing dependency and interconnectedness of the United States and Europe. Discusses investment, trade, and employment links.
• Petermann, Ernst-Ulrich, and Mark Pollack, eds. Transatlantic Economic Disputes: The EU, the U.S., and the WTO. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Examines disputes such as the beef-hormone case, how the WTO functions, sources of dispute, and possible future remedies. 

See also: Asian trade with the United States; Canadian trade with the United States; Chinese trade with the United States; Colonial economic systems; International economics and trade; Japanese trade with the United States; Latin American trade with the United States; Marshall Plan; Mexican trade with the United States.