The EU s decision making structure is especially difficult - arriving at a consensus of 15 makes everything more complicated and it can make it difficult for us to work together. The banana dispute is a good example. While we are doing a pretty well with some issues, like biotechnology, I am concerned that at times we don t seem to have the necessary commitment to solve some of these economic disputes. We need to bring the same kind of leadership and commitment that we have in our political relationship to our economic relationship. But it is difficult to do that with issues like beef and bananas that have been around for such a long time.
People simply get tired of dealing with it.
We have a structure for managing the relationship called the New Transatlantic Agenda. We have been working through its various chapters since 1995 and it has helped us to focus on the relationship - but it can be improved. We also have the transatlantic business, consumer, environmental and legislative dialogues. The TABD has been very successful at identifying and resolving impediments to transatlantic trade. And as fast as technology is moving today, there is no way governments can keep up without help from business - so we need to keep pushing for new and effective ways for governments and business to work together.