Publications /
Policy Paper

Back
Trade in the Wider Atlantic and the Transatlantic Trade And the Investment Partnership
Authors
Peter Sparding
March 11, 2014

This paper examines the changing role of trade in the Wider Atlantic space and the shifting trade patterns between the four continents

Historically, transatlantic relations have often been focused on North-North connections in the Atlantic space. In light of momentous geopolitical, economic, and demographic changes around the world, it now seems expedient to expand the view of the Atlantic by exploring its “vertical map” and including its Southern half. This paper focuses on one of the trends currently shaping the region — the changing role of trade in the Wider Atlantic space. Significant developments are unfolding. Total trade among the regions of the Atlantic Basin has seen a dramatic increase in recent years, more than doubling in volume between 2000 and 2011. Over the same period, new actors have entered the Atlantic sphere. In addition, trade patterns are slowly shifting between the four continents. This paper illustrates and analyzes the history of trade relations in the Atlantic and the changing trade patterns in the Wider Atlantic, and explores the potential impacts of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on geostrategic and economic developments in the region.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    August 25, 2015
    Struggling with slow growth, many countries (advanced and developing), have allowed their currencies to slide against the U.S. dollar. Until recently, China stood out in resisting this trend, and indeed had seen a large appreciation against the US dollar over several years. So many saw its abrupt change of course not only as signaling deep trouble in China but also as opening the door to a bout of destabilizing currency competition. These troubling developments raise two important q ...
  • August 18, 2015
    OCP Policy Center and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, in partnership with the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Institute, organized an Atlantic Strategy Group conference on June 23rd and 24th, 2015 in São Paulo, Brazil with a focus on trade, energy, food, and Geopolitical System...
  • Authors
    Guillame Xavier-Bender
    August 10, 2015
    This brief seeks to look into how innovation ecosystems in the Atlantic Basin may affect public policymaking, economic development, and the future of commercial and social interactions. It looks more specifically at enabling technologies, which generate networks and increase connectivity. It also explores the transformational role these technologies play on the evolution of strategic industries in the Atlantic. The digital revolution’s full potential indeed lies in its capacity to s ...
  • Authors
    July 27, 2015
    The Chinese stock markets have been recently affected by plummeting indexes and high volatility. The substantial level of “mom and pop” speculators has been identified as one of the reason for these dynamics. Although there is no speculative bubble at the moment, we may question the impact of potential excessive trading on the promising future of Chinese commodity exchanges. ...
  • July 21, 2015
    The 16th Annual Global Development Conference has been dedicated this year to the theme of ‘Agriculture for Sustainable Growth: Challenges and Opportunities for a New ‘Green Revolution’.  One of the sub-themes that has been addressed during this event is related to the design of the optimal agricultural policy supposed to lead towards development, especially in low-income countries. The objective of this blog is to cover the key elements that make an agricultural policy successful a ...
  • July 14, 2015
    This podcast is performed by Elena Sanchez. This briefing will discuss the new edition of the “Migrant Integration Policy Index” (MIPEX), updated in 2015. This Index tries to measure and ...
  • Authors
    July 10, 2015
    Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has already completed two notable labors. First, he led his radical left-wing Syriza party to an improbable election victory in January 2015. Then, also improbably, he won a resounding no vote in a referendum on July 5 on accepting the terms of Greece’s international creditors for a new bailout package. According to Greek mythology, there are ten more labors to go, and indeed, it will probably take that many to redeem the Greek economy. Tsipras’s ...