Brussels, 20/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - There is no reason to fear an all-out trade war, still less an undermining of the broader strategic and military partnership between the Union and the United States, despite the multiplication of frictions and disputes that cannot be termed "trivial" between the two sides of the Atlantic, is what Peter Carl, Director-General for Trade at the European Commission, said in substance when speaking on Tuesday before the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. However, he added, both would do better to try to settle their differences before arriving at multilateral arbitration and, failing that, duly implement the binding verdicts of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Transatlantic disputes, the stakes of which are often linked to "authentic, politically thorny and cultural" problems, concern "the means of existence of thousands of people", and, "in the current economic climate, some of them risk worsening", said Mr. Carl. Without omitting to recall that transatlantic trade remained 99% free of all trouble, he explained his reassuring prediction by the fact that: - the European and American economies are deeply interwoven, citing as example the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, for which supplies are 40% American (in value); - the two markets depend strongly on trade and investment, to such an extent that a trade war "would amount, not to shooting each other in the foot, but shooting bullets into our own heads"; - with close to 40% of world trade in their hands, the EU and the United States have acquired rights in the current system, which confers on them a considerable leverage, both multilaterally and bilaterally; - the cultural and historical heritage they share enables them to understand and, for some aspects, to register similar developments within society (concerns for the environment, working standards, globalisation, etc.). And, according to him, as long as the partners continue to focus on important matters, on the visions and goals they share, their relationship is quite capable of riding occasional and inevitable storms. They hardly have the choice as, he goes on, security increasingly depends on their ability to develop a multi-polar economic balance, which is a powerful factor in pacification and one of the main vectors for mass action in view of reducing the North-South divide. Mr Carl does, however, feel that Europe places greater importance on this objective, essential to alleviate one the foremost causes of many conflicts or problems throughout the world, than does the United States - and "not only in its rhetoric" and concrete facts and figures demonstrate it, he said.