Transatlantic Economy 2021: Annual Survey of Jobs, Trade and Investment between the United States and Europe​

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Daniel S. Hamilton and Joseph P. Quinlan

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Despite transatlantic political turbulence and the COVID-19-induced recession, the U.S. and Europe remain each other’s most important markets. The transatlantic economy generates $6.2 trillion in total commercial sales a year and employs up to 16 million workers in mutually “onshored” jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. It is the largest and wealthiest market in the world, accounting for half of total global personal consumption and close to one-third of world GDP in terms of purchasing power.

 

Ties are particularly thick in foreign direct investment (FDI), portfolio investment, banking claims, trade and affiliate sales in goods and services, mutual R&D investment, patent cooperation, technology flows, and sales of knowledge-intensive services.