Business Roundtable members back U.S.-EU negotiations as a way to expand opportunities for growth for the United States and Europe. The trade and investment relationship is already strong:

• The U.S. and EU economies combined are the largest in the world, accounting for 45 percent of world GDP in terms of value and nearly 40 percent in terms of purchasing power.
• U.S.-EU total goods and services trade climbed 12 percent to $986 billion in 2011, compared to 2010. The EU accounts for 16 percent of total U.S. trade with the world. 
• In 2011, U.S. investments in the EU totaled $2.1 trillion, accounting for half of all U.S. direct investment abroad. EU investments in the United States totaled $1.6 trillion in 2011, representing 62 percent of all foreign direct investment in the United States. U.S. and EU investors combined employ more than 7 million workers on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Roundtable has been working over the last year-and-a-half toward a strengthened U.S.-EU economic relationship. Activities it’s done to promote negotiations on trade, investment and regulatory cooperation issues, include:

• Press Release in February commending the launch of U.S.-EU trade negotiations.
• The Business Roundtable released a joint white paper in November 2011 with the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), outlining a vision for a more strategic, dynamic and forward-looking U.S.-EU partnership, including through negotiations. In April 2012, BRT and TABD were joined by the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) in submitting the white paper as public comments to the High Level Working Group.  
• Business Roundtable CEOs also traveled to Berlin in November 2011 to meet with their counterparts with the Federation of German Industries (BDI) to discuss proposals for a new transatlantic partnership.
• The Business Roundtable joined other major U.S. and European business groups in a March 2012 statement urging U.S. and European leaders to launch negotiations.
•  In October 2012, BRT, TABD and ERT submitted joint public comments on U.S.-EU regulatory cooperation issues.
• In November 2012, the Business Roundtable coordinated a joint letter from the leaders of major U.S. and EU business associations to President Obama and the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council.