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MOST IMPORTANT ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIP WITH THE US

Submitted by christian on Sat, 11/04/2017 - 18:17
  1. Austria: The most important trade partners for Austria are Germany, the United States, Italy, Switzerland, and France. For many US companies, Austria serves as a gateway to central and south-eastern Europe, and is perceived as a good export market for US technology and services. Altogether, some 340 US companies have established subsidiaries around Vienna, contributing to a strong economic network between the two countries. The economic relationship is very important as the US is Austria’s second most important trade partner. Austrian exports to the US represented over $10 billion in 2016, and they include specialised industrial machinery, pharmaceuticals, glassware, electric power machinery, and food products.
  2. Belgium: Belgium’s relationship with the United States is crucial, as the US is Belgium’s main non-European supplier and its largest non-European customer. In the first nine months of 2016, the US was the country’s fourth largest supplier: it represented 8.4 percent of Belgian imports, around $22 billion. In terms of exports, the US is Belgium’s fifth biggest buyer, accounting for 5.9 percent of Belgian exports, worth $16.7 billion. Key sectors in this relationship are: pharmaceuticals, chemicals, technology, and weaponry. The 900 majority-owned US companies active in Belgium directly employ more than 125,000 people – 4.3 percent of Belgium’s total private sector employment.
  3. Denmark: The economic relationship with the United States is crucial for Denmark. The US is Denmark’s largest non-European trading partner, and its fourth largest export market. In 2015, 2,750 Danish companies exported to the US, and 650 Danish companies own subsidiary companies in the US, employing around 65,000 people. In turn, the US has around 550 subsidiary companies in Denmark which employ around 39,000 people. Key for Denmark is the climate change sector, which Denmark has devoted significant time and resources to in recent years. This will be more difficult under the Trump administration. Denmark also worked very actively towards the adoption of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement, which was a main economic interest in the relationship with the US.
  4. Finland: Finland’s most important partners in terms of the economy, trade, and investment are all members of the European Union. However, among non-EU countries, the United States’ economic importance is underlined by its role as Finland’s third biggest export market and by Finland’s large trade surplus with it. Exports from Finland to the US consist above all of paper and paperboard, industrial machinery and motors, instruments and meters, electric machinery and equipment, chemical products, and refined petroleum products. Imports from the US to Finland include machinery, transport equipment, and telecommunications equipment
  5. France: Trade and investment in research and development are key dimensions of the Franco-American relationship. They are often underestimated in France, where the media focuses primarily on foreign and security policy cooperation. The United States is France’s second biggest trade partner, and exports to the US market are vital for French industry. This cooperation pertains mainly to luxury products and transport equipment, machinery, chemicals, and pharmaceutical products. Another dimension of the economic relationship concerns extensive research and intellectual exchanges. France is the fourth most common destination for Americans studying abroad, with more than 800 inter-university agreements in operation and 17,000 American students welcomed each year. The US is France’s leading scientific partner: together they produced over 12,000 co-publications in 2012, representing more than a quarter of French international co-publications.
  6. Germany: The United States is a crucial trading partner for Germany, especially given that it is the number one export market for the heavily export-orientated German economy. The US is the biggest buyer of German exports and Germany is the US’s most important trading partner in Europe. In 2015, exports to Germany accounted for 3.3 percent of total US exports, and imports from Germany accounted for 5.5 percent of total US imports.  The main sector for trade is transport equipment, followed, at a distance, by chemicals and machinery. In Germany, around one million jobs are directly or indirectly dependent on German exports to the US. An additional 630,000 German jobs depend on American companies based in Germany.
  7. Greece: The United States is important for the Greek economy in both political and practical terms. Barack Obama supported Greece remaining in the eurozone at all critical junctures. The Greek government’s main concern since the victory of Donald Trump has been that he would show little or no interest in the Greek crisis. In 2016 Greece’s exports to the US were worth €1,095 billion, equal to 4.4 percent of all Greek exports, making the US the fifth most important destination for Greek products after Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey. In 2015, foreign direct investment from the US amounted to €827m, the seventh largest amount in 2015, following France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
  8. Italy: Economic relations are an important pillar in Italy’s historical link with the United States. The US is Italy’s third most important trade partner and the country with which Italy has its largest trade surplus. Italian exports to the US are mainly concentrated in sectors such as machinery, transport, clothing, and agri-food. Italy imports US products in the pharmaceuticals and chemicals sectors, as well as aircraft. The US does not rank among Italy’s top ten partners in terms of energy cooperation. Very limited quantities of coal and refined oil are imported from the US, whereas Italy exports machinery for renewable energy to the US. American investment in Italy is directed towards the manufacturing industry, and towards services, such as financial services, telecommunications, and banking.
  9. Malta: In 2016, the United States, previously Malta’s eighth most significant export partner, became its most important one. This was almost completely due to a sudden boom in pharmaceutical exports to the US, with their value leaping from around €19,750,000 in 2015 to more than €625,150,000 in 2016. Over 30 established international pharmaceutical producers operate from Malta, with several leading companies relocating there in the past few years, in part to take advantage of Malta’s liberal legal framework. Exports of electronic machinery, especially microchips, are also of great economic significance to Malta’s overall economic profile. Imports from the US remain less significant and have actually declined in percentage and rank over the past few years.
  10. Netherlands: Investment is key in the economic relationship between the Netherlands and the United States: the Netherlands is the third largest foreign investor in the US, and the US is the largest investor in the Netherlands. In terms of trade, the US is third on the list of import partners and in the top 10 of export partners for the Netherlands. The Netherlands exports office machines, drinks, and chemical products to the US. The US exports chemical products, computers, electronic devices, and air and space technology to the Netherlands. Large Dutch companies present in the US operate in the insurance, banking, and chemical and oil sectors. Economic relations between the countries have resulted in around 740,000 jobs in the US and 600,000 jobs in the Netherlands.
  11. Poland: The United States is a relatively important economic partner for Poland although there is still large untapped potential in the relationship. Currently, the US is Poland’s ninth most important trading partner, with bilateral trade worth $7.8 billion. For many years Warsaw has been interested in a substantial strengthening of economic cooperation with the US, but the results of Polish efforts remain rather limited. Currently, the main window of opportunity for the enhancement of Polish-US economic cooperation constitutes a programme for the modernisation of Poland’s armed forces. The Polish government is interested in purchasing US equipment and encouraging US companies to invest in Poland. During his visit to Poland in July 2017, Donald Trump announced that the US is interested in the export of American liquid natural gas to the Polish gas market. However, no document, or even a memorandum of understanding, to this effect was signed and no official negotiations had been launched as of September 2017.
  12. Portugal: The United States is the largest trading partner outside the European Union for Portugal, and the two countries have a strong relationship in terms of investment: the US ranks fifth as a buyer country and 11th as a seller country. Portugal exports petroleum products, electric machinery, chemicals, textiles, wood, cork, clothing, and shoes to the US while the US exports automobile and transport equipment, machinery, agriculture, commodities, natural gas, and chemicals to Portugal. Energy cooperation is a key area due to the fact that the US is one of the top five most important partners. There are 130 American companies active in Portugal, generating around €5 billion per year, which represents almost 3 percent of the country’s GNP and around 21,000 jobs?
  13. Slovakia: Economic relations with the United States are very important for Slovakia, both indirectly – through its economic relations with major European economies like Germany – and directly, through the import and export of goods. The US was the 17th biggest economic investor in Slovakia and its 12thbiggest economic and trading partner in 2015. But the US became the 11th biggest export market for Slovakia in 2016. Slovak exports to the US are more than twice the size of imports from the US, and this is an increasing trend. For instance, in 2016 Slovak exports to the US increased 16 percent on the previous year.  The automobile industry plays the most important role within the economic partnership between the US and Slovakia, followed by furniture, the IT sector, pharmaceuticals, and the arms industry.
  14. Spain: The United States is an important market for Spain, but not as fundamental as the eurozone. It is the sixth destination for Spanish goods exports, and the US is the fifth largest source of imports for Spain. Especially important is bilateral foreign direct investment; Spain ranks as the tenth investor in the US. The main investment sectors in the US are financial services, conventional and renewable energy, infrastructure, automotive component manufacturing, and textiles.  Some measures contained in Donald Trump’s economic programme, such as the infrastructure plan, are viewed with interest from Spain. But both the Spanish government and private sector would consider a shift towards protectionist policies or against Latin America to be very damaging.
  15. Sweden: Sweden is a country that relies heavily on its exports. The United States is the most important investment country for Sweden as well as its most important export destination outside of the European Union. Two of the main sectors involved in the economic relationship with the US are machinery, and chemical products (mostly medical). These sectors are important to the Swedish economy: machines and carriers make up 40 percent of Sweden’s exports, and chemical products make up 12 percent. Other sectors of importance are IT companies, arms sales, telecom companies, financial services, and tobacco. Sweden also has a big music industry that is channelled through US artists.
  16. United Kingdom: Bilaterally, the United States is the United Kingdom’s most important trading partner. The two countries are especially active in cooperating on financial services, chemical products, machinery, and transport. In terms of foreign direct investment, the US is the largest single inward investor into the UK and the largest single destination of investment for the UK in 2015, accounting for 23.6 percent of outward investment worth £254.57bn and 24.5 percent or £248.25bn of inward investment. Every day, over a million people in the US go to work for a British company, and vice versa. The main issue the UK is concerned about is whether the US under Donald Trump will retain an open and transparent trade and investment regime. Another concern is that US policies on China could damage the multilateral trading system.

 

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MOST IMPORTANT ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIP WITH THE US

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