As President Donald Trump threatens to “tariff the hell out of” Europe in advance of upcoming negotiations, the EU is taking a quieter tack toward showing how playing hardball on trade could be problematic for the U.S.
This month the EU Mission to the U.S. in Washington released a state-by-state analysis of the two-way trading relationship that focuses on balance and interdependency.
In Georgia alone, engagement with the EU supports 237,076 jobs — 81,359 created by the state’s trade with the 29-member bloc and 155,717 from inbound EU investment.
About a quarter ($1.91 billion worth) of the state’s booming aerospace exports go to the EU, while Georgia firms export $1.83 billion in professional services to the region. Agriculture, also a hot-button issue and a sector that has borne the brunt of the president’s trade fight with China, is also a key sector. The report points out the Georgia exported $100 million in oilseeds, $85 million in tree nuts and $35 million in other plant products to the EU, using 2017 numbers.
Even travel — a key sector for the state with the world’s busiest airport — was highlighted, as EU visitors generate more than a billion dollars in revenue for the state each year.
A previous effort to tie the U.S. more closely with the EU on the trade front, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, included a wide variety of sectors, from food to cars. Mr. Trump and his advisers have suggested a less ambitious agenda geared toward a rebalancing that would avert threatened tariffs on European autos.
All of these figures include the United Kingdom, which could be out of the bloc if Brexit goes ahead by the end of next month, but other countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, France and Italy are also major Georgia investors. The report included an infographic highlighting EU firms making an impact mainly outside metro Atlanta, from Latvia’s Valmiera Glass in Dublin to Austria’s Voestalpine Group in Cartersville.
See more stats in the graphic above, or learn more about the Georgia-EU relationship at http://www.euintheustrade.org/georgia/
The report also highlights the relative trade balance between the two entities: The U.S. exports $528 billion in goods to the EU, while importing $629 billion. The deficit was one-third the U.S. trade deficit with China in 2017.
