Fact Sheet: U.S.-German Global Economic and Development Cooperation

The United States and Germany share global economic goals, from addressing financial reforms to development and food needs worldwide.  Reinforced through strong bilateral economic and political ties, we also cooperate in fora such as the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Economic Council, the G-8 and G-20.  We work together to advance energy security and efficiency and to address environmental concerns while promoting policy measures to benefit emerging economies and sustainable practices worldwide. The United States and Germany look to increase bilateral cooperation through: 

Germany was instrumental in asking the TEC to accelerate transatlantic work on common standards for electric vehicles.  The auto industry on both sides of the Atlantic strongly supports common standards for electric vehicles, allowing for the development of a transatlantic production base and consumer market.  The United States and Germany are committed to contributing constructively within the TEC framework to achieve common standards and compatible regulatory approaches for electric vehicles.  The U.S. Department of Energy has proposed two projects to be implemented through its Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) with Germany as part of U.S.-EU cooperation under the TEC and the U.S.-EU Energy Council on e-mobility:  sharing information on e-mobility demonstration projects in the U.S. and Germany and joint field testing to verify proposed electric vehicle-smart grid connectivity standards using ANL’s End-Use Measurement Device (EUMD).

• Expansion of TEC priorities, specifically electro-mobility:  The work of the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) underscores how intertwined the economies of the European Union (EU) and the United States have become.  In 2007, when Germany held the rotating EU Presidency, Chancellor Merkel played a key role in the creation of the TEC.  The TEC is guiding joint efforts to tackle regulatory and other non-tariff barriers to trade and investment across the Atlantic.  German companies, and U.S. companies active in Germany, will be among the beneficiaries of TEC efforts to dismantle regulatory barriers in the transatlantic market. 
   
• G-20: The United States, Germany and other leading economies agreed to pursue policies that lead to strong, sustainable, and balanced global growth and to promote external sustainability by reducing excessive current account imbalances.  The G-20 also has agreed that exchange rates should reflect underlying economic fundamentals and is working toward establishing stronger norms for exchange rate policies that will help facilitate a more effective and efficient global adjustment process.  We are working to build a better framework to help countries manage volatility in capital flows without imposing undue adjustment burdens on others.  A more stable international financial system also requires stronger oversight of the major global financial institutions and markets, and both countries are committed to tougher restraints on risk taking and leverage, stronger oversight of the derivatives markets, and more robust resolution systems for large financial institutions.  Recently, the G-20 also expanded cooperation to include energy, anticorruption and development issues.
   
• Development: The United States is the world’s largest provider of official development assistance (ODA).  Germany is among the world’s top ODA contributors.  Germany and the United States coordinate closely on development assistance on both strategic and operational levels, and are exploring mechanisms for enhanced cooperation.  In the multilateral context, the United States, Germany and other major donors have launched a comprehensive, G-20 multi-year Plan of Action, focusing on infrastructure, trade, human resource development, private sector investment and job creation, food security, domestic resource mobilization, knowledge sharing and growth with resilience.  The United States and Germany are committed to working with the IMF and World Bank, and have supported historic increases in the resources of both institutions. The United States and Germany are committed to working with the Multilateral Development Banks, and have supported historic increases in the resources of these institutions.