Economic 'laggard' Europe finally pulls ahead of US

The transatlantic relationship remains the “foundation” of the global economy, MEPS have been told.

A new report says that despite the “seemingly unstoppable” growth of emerging markets such as China and India, Europe is still the largest trading entity in the world.

Speaking at an event in parliament on Tuesday, UK centre-right MEP Jonathan Evans described the relationship between the EU and US as “mutually crucial and mutually inter-dependant.”

Evans, chairman of parliament’s US delegation, was addressing an audience at the launch of a new report on U.S investment in Europe.

The report, by the American chamber of commerce to the EU, said that over the past five years the transatlantic economy has enjoyed one of its “strongest periods of growth and prosperity” in decades.

“Since the beginning of 2002, the dollar has dropped nearly 40 per cent against the euro and 30 per cent against Sterling.

“US firms operating in Europe have enjoyed the best of both worlds – strong demand in Europe and a competitive currency,” it says.

In 2006, US companies ploughed around 8 billion into the EU.

"That is a record amount, even eclipsing the booming investment amounts of the late 1990s," it says.

The report says that “significantly, the one-time transatlantic economic laggard, Europe,” has pulled ahead of the perennial transatlantic growth leader – the US.

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