The world that created the transatlantic alliance is fading fast. If the U.S.-European relationship is to be a progressive force in the world to come, Americans and Europeans must urgently build a more strategic Transatlantic Partnership that is more effective in generating economic opportunity for our citizens and our companies, and in dealing with new partners, especially in the emerging growth markets, and addressing transformations occurring all around us. Shifting dynamics at home and abroad compel us, urgently, to renew and reposition our partnership to generate jobs and growth and to improve the strategic and tactical tools at our disposal to meet 21st century challenges to the international trading system, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and its rules.
This is not a time for piecemeal efforts, it is a time for transformative action. The benefits could be substantial in terms of creating jobs, boosting innovation, improving our competitiveness, and ensuring long-term growth and prosperity. It is a moment of opportunity - to use or to lose.
The stakes are high. Although rapidly rising economies have gained much attention, the U.S. and Europe remain the anchor of the global economy. The transatlantic economy generates $5 trillion in total commercial sales a year and employs up to 15 million workers. It is the largest and wealthiest market in the world, accounting for three-quarters of global financial markets and over half of world trade and world GDP. No other commercial artery is as integrated.
Every day roughly $1.7 billion in goods and services crosses the Atlantic, representing about one-third of total global trade in goods and more than 40 percent of world trade in services. Americans sold three times as many merchandise exports to Europe than to China and 15 times more than to India. The European Union sold the United States nearly twice the goods it sold China and nearly 7 times what it sold India.
The U.S. and the EU are each other's most important investment partners, and transatlantic investment flows of nearly $2.7 trillion dwarf those among any other continents. In addition, U.S. and European companies account for 60 percent of the top R&D companies and 69 percent of private R&D spending in the world. The U.S. and Europe are allies in NATO, partners in addressing global political and economic problems, and account for 80 percent of all development assistance around the world. We are democracies, market economies, and leading supporters of the rules-based international economic order.
