Washington, DC, September 19, 2018 – A delegation from AmCham Germany is currently in Washington, DC to hold talks with high-ranking US decision makers on transatlantic business relations. AmCham Germany President Frank Sportolari says, "We currently see the chance for solution-oriented dialogue in the trade conflict with the US."

Are we entering a new and dramatically different era of transatlantic commerce? Since the economic relationship between the European Union and United States is the most influential commercial partnership in the world, and, for the first time in decades, one government has inhibited commerce by imposing higher tariffs, this question suddenly seems to require an urgent answer. To determine the answer, we should ignore the headlines, and study two fundamental realities.