Spanish propose EU-US trade zone within ten years
Jose Maria Aznar, the Spanish prime minister, has unveiled an ambitious proposal which could see the World’s two biggest economies form a free trade zone within a decade.
During a visit to Washington, where he addressed US business leaders, Mr Aznar said that the two economies, which account for around half of World trade should establish an "Atlantic Economic Zone".
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"From 2015 our two great economic areas, which are the biggest in the World, should have eliminated those barriers which impede our trade", he said.
June’s bilateral EU-US summit has been earmarked as the venue to set the plan in motion, with the creation of a "High Level Economic Commission".
Within 12 months this body would present an "action plan" identifying regulatory obstacles and "establishing a precise calendar for their elimination, within the course of a decade".
Mr Aznar’s optimistic agenda contrasts sharply with the array of trade disputes which continue to plague the EU-US economic relationship and slow progress in trade convergence.
Although the EU and US have a voluminous trading relationship, efforts to harmonise the two economies have so far been focused on technical barriers to trade and regulatory issues, with limited success.