International Business and Technology Blog

​Opportunities for US companies in Europe abound. They always have and will, the question is one of timing. US exporters to Europe, of both goods and services, achieved an accomplished and steadily growing >$500Bn in 2014. This is inextricable linked to the existing pool of business investment by US companies in the EU. The US is the largest external investor in the EU, with 33% of the total, mostly in the business services and software sectors. US investment in the EU accounts for >50% of all U.S. direct investment abroad and is valued at >$2.5T.

Every year, the 28 countries of the European Union (EU) suck in 100’s of billions of dollars worth of goods and services from the USA. In 2014, that figure is expected to exceed $0.5 Tn. The EU and the USA remain each other’s largest import/export partners (>$1 Tn annual flow). In this article we are going to drill down into the import of goods (so excluding services, which will be dealt with next month) by the EU from the USA. Firstly, we will ask what are these goods that are so consistently imported (making the EU the #1 market, after Canada, for US exported goods) and secondly which EU countries are doing all that heavy importing…

Hot off the press, yes it is official. Eurozone (18 countries) GDP grew by a whole 0.2% in Q3.2014, exceeding expectations by a whopping 0.1% (real optimism there). As you can imagine with that kind of good news we in Europe are all off on a well-earned buying spree, celebrating and adding to our Q4.2014 numbers.

On October the 3^rd, the 7th week-long round of TTIP negotiations closed with the wonderfully named EU Chief TTIP Negotiator, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, stating somewhat blandly (Can we expect more? Yes we can): “We have again had a week of productive discussions. Negotiations are now moving smoothly into the textual phase, where discussions are based on specific textual proposals”.

We all know Bruce Springsteen’s view on getting paid. Clearly, the European Payments Council (EPC), the decision-making and coordination body of the European banking industry in relation to payments, charged with developing the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), had the Boss in mind, when scoping out this innovative program.

Every year, the European Union's (EU) 28 countries import 100’s of billions of dollars worth of goods and services from the USA. This year, the figure is expected to be >$0.5 Tn. In 2013, the USA and the EU remained, and have always been, each other’s largest export/import (>$1 Tn annual flow) and investor partners (>$300 Bn annual flow). This is not a new situation, the transatlantic relationship is key for US exporters, and is not one that is likely to change in the near future.

September is a time of change, and so it has been for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) program. The increasingly drawn out negotiations (started in July 2013) are now in their 7th week-long round, 29^th September to the 3^rd October 2014. This time hosted by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA , they steadily accrue interested party criticism, while losing the more broad political support on both sides of the economically challenged Atlantic.

On Friday the 19th September 2014, as a warming sun rose on the coastline of bonnie eastern Scotland, the overwhelming “Nay” to Independence was clear. Those Scottish National Party (SNP) Braveheart Mel Gibson lookalike warriors wrapped in their Saltires, drifted despondently home. The “Better Together” campaign to keep Scotland within the United Kingdom had resoundingly won the night. Of the 4.3 million Scots who were eligible to vote (population 5.4 million), a drum thumping 85% did so. However, the hitherto silent 2 million (55%) demanded No to Independence, while the Independence cries of the very vocal proved thin at the ballot box with just 45%.

"The Single Market is the European Unions’ grown jewel, and online is its natural new home. So let’s bring down those barriers”, announced Neelie Kroes (Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda for Europe) in June 2014, preceding the Global Ecommerce Summit in Barcelona, Spain.

Scotland: No or Yes to "Independence", the big issue currently exercising the directly concerned 65 million minds in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland (United Kingdom). Will or won't, the 3 million Scots (95% of the UK population is effectively disenfranchised) who are eligible to vote, decide No (= stay) or Yes (= leave) to the Union of 1703. Their decision will have a huge direct impact on the whole of the UK and beyond as the fallout, directly impacts the European Unions' 28 nations and 350 million citizens. If Yes, Scotland will be out of the UK and the EU, avowedly seeking to be admitted in, as #29. A huge topic on its own.