US businesses call for ‘transatlantic single market’

According to Dr. Daniel Hamilton, director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations of the Johns Hopkins University, in 2005, the US invested in China only 23% of what it invested in Belgium. Even in "slow-growth Germany", investment from the US was four times higher than in China. "Everyone talks about China but the action is actually somewhere else," he said. 

Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations Joseph Quinlan added: "China will change the world one day, but, for the moment, it remains a much- less attractive market than the EU for the US, because it continues to drag its feet on regulatory barriers." 

US Ambassador to the EU Boyden Gray said: "We tend to take this relationship for granted," and cautioned leaders to address frictions between the two economies "otherwise the figures will go down". The main problem, he said, is the tendency to over-regulate in Europe. This often affects US companies negatively, as does REACH, the new Community chemicals regulation, and as would the proposed tax on aircraft based on CO2 emissions. He accused the Commission of allowing itself to be pressured into corners by member states, which, according to him, have far too much control over policymaking.