With the end of the Cold War, many have argued that the close economic relationship between the United States and Europe should replace the security alliance as the primary basis of the transatlantic partnership. In this book, Wolfgang Reinicke critically assesses the basic premise of such a proposition and examines two concrete proposals that have been made to strengthen transatlantic economic relations—a Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA) and a New Transatlantic Marketplace.
According to Reinicke, a TAFTA is likely to be both too little—tariffs and quantitative restrictions being of importance in a few sectors only—and too much—their elimination being unrealistic in the short term. The idea of a New Transatlantic Marketplace, he says, fits with the fact that the United States and the European Union form the core of the global economy. Keeping its limits and risks in mind, it could provide the relationship with a new foundation for the 21st century.