Thank you Chairman Miller, Ranking Member McCarthy, and distinguished members of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade. My name is Peter Rashish, and I am Vice President for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The transatlantic commercial relationship is by far the largest in the world, with the United States and the European Union surpassing $4.3 trillion in trade, investment and sales by foreign affiliates of companies in one another’s markets. U.S. companies have over $1 trillion invested in the EU. In Ireland alone, the stock of U.S. FDI totaled $165 billion at the end of 2009 — more than the U.S. total for China, India, Russia, and Brazil combined. EU investment in the U.S. supported 3.6 million jobs in 2008. EU investment in California alone supported 287,000 jobs, while its investment in New York supported 255,000 jobs.

These figures make it plain that the fate of the U.S. economy is intimately entwined with the fate of the European Union and the Eurozone. Because of the deep level of integration between our two economies, we will sink or swim together.

The collapse of the Eurozone would not only mean the end of the common currency and the efficiencies it has brought to the European economy but would also likely lead to the disintegration of one of the EU’s crowning achievements — the single market enacted in 1992. Without the single market and its “four freedoms” of movement of people, goods, services, and capital, not only would Europe’s economy suffer but U.S. companies would no longer be able to benefit from operating across a barrier-free EU internal market just as Europeans firms do.

While Europe’s political commitment to finding a solution is strong, it is struggling to identify the right policy tools to contain financial contagion, shore up the banking system, and rein in fiscal deficits while boosting economic growth. Without economic growth, no amount of budgetary austerity or financial rescue programs will provide a long-term solution to Europe’s economic woes.

Where can Europe find the economic growth it needs — and which would ensure that the U.S. continues to reap the enormous commercial benefits from its trade and investment with the European Union?

One avenue is for EU member states to pursue structural reforms of their economies that would liberate growth. Another path is for Europe to invigorate its push to complete its single market. While most barriers to trade across the EU have fallen, an important number remain in the services sector. The creation of the single market has led to a surge in intra-EU investment. This internal dynamism has been a key source of the EU’s economic growth, and the elimination of the remaining barriers in its market would have major benefits for it economy — and for ours.

There is, however, one area that until now has been neglected as a source of increased economic growth in the EU and for that matter in the U.S. — the trade relationship between the two commercial partners. If the two transatlantic economic powers want to inject more dynamism into their economies in a non-inflationary way, there is one quick step they should consider: agree to eliminate all tariffs in transatlantic trade.