The European Union (EU)-United States (US) relationship is one of the most equal tandems in the world based on cultural, economic, financial, political, and security standards. The divergences between the two blocs are more about technicalities than fundamental disagreements.
The issues of high relevance for the United States, that were identified in the media and through the narratives of interviews of general public to policy-makers, are usually directly connected to American interests and American concerns/fears. For instance, the issues of trade and tariff, environment and energy, immigration crisis, security, terrorism and nationalism were considered as the most important for Americans.
Each of these issues have been priorities under the Obama administration from the negotiations on the TTIP, the Climate Change Agreement, global fight on terrorism, rise of domestic nationalism, war in Syria and the immigration crisis.
This paper seeks to distinguish between high (security) and low (trade, societal, environment) politics and see how the US perceives the handling of core issues by its European partners. How have these perceptions affected the EU-US relationship during the Obama administration? This paper grounds itself in empirical studies and case study analysis in order to offer a state of the transatlantic union at the end of the Obama tenure.
