Summary

We propose the creation of an Open Atlantic Prosperity Area to remove all economic, trade and financial barriers between the United States and the EU, and advance the cause of free trade. It must be based on a new-generation agreement, i.e. a WTO-plus agreement open to the rest of the world, an advance on the concept of a free-trade area, and one which promotes progress towards removing the barriers that are most damaging to trade. Our aim is to target those regulations that are covertly protectionist, including regulations on public procurement, agricultural policies that work against the market, incompatibility of standards and the perverse use of ‘trade defence’ mechanisms. These measures would result in gains of up to 3.5% in per capita income for the EU.