"If we add up the trade of goods and services, the EU and the United States are the world’s greatest bilateral trade partnership". On the occasion of the summit taking place today in Brdo (Slovenia) between the EU executives and the US president George Bush, Eurostat publishes a set of statistics, showing "a deep interdependence between the two economies". According to the EU Commission’s Statistics Office, "the distinctive feature of the trade relations between the 27 EU member states and the USA over the last few years has been a growth in the European surplus, which has risen from 32 billion euros in 2000 to 80 billion euros in 2007". This is due to the rise in exports from the EU countries to the United States (+23 billion euros in seven years) and a parallel reduction in imports (-25 billion euros). The USA remain the main destination for European exports, while China has become the first source of imports. Trade relations between the two coasts of the Atlantic are "led by manufacturing products" and concern in particular machinery, vehicles, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, oil products. Of all the member states, Germany is the first exporter to the USA, followed by the United Kingdom, France and Italy. Trade relations between the USA and the new EU countries are increasing.
