ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the driving forces behind the on-going transition in US-European relations. It seeks to provide a degree of clarity to the present and future state of the US-European relationship. The new global economic situation presents a somewhat different picture, although not because of an inherent weakness or problem in US-European economic relations. The globalization of economic relationships thus has potential to weaken the relative strength of US-European economic relations in comparison with American economic ties with other regions of the world even as US economic ties deepen in Western Europe and broaden in Central and Eastern Europe. An immensely dense web of information and communication pathways already ties the United States and Europe to each other. This web is the most extensive in the world, and includes telephony, satellite communications, submarine cables, Internet connections, and other information and communication pathways.
