Not just two-way trade boost

By forging a closer alliance, the EU and US are once again trying to reshape the global economy in their favor

The European Union and the United States announced the official start of free trade negotiations at the G8 summit in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland on June 17 and 18. The start of talks to finalize the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership shows the developed countries are pushing to build powerful new alliances.

With a trade volume of almost $1 trillion, as well as half the world's economic production and one-third of the global trade circulation, trade between the EU and the US is the biggest and most complex of economic relations. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership would be the biggest trade agreement since World Trade Organization was founded. An independent study by the London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research predicts the EU's economy could benefit by 119 billion euros a year ($156 billion) and the US by an extra 95 billion euros a year.