The move toward a single market in the European Community (EC) has unleashed a wider impetus for economic and political change in Western Europe. These developments have major implications for U.S. business and public administration, which need to prepare for them. The following article outlines the conflicts of trading interest which have arisen between the U.S. and the EC These conflicts are seen as inevitable given the attraction and the increasing status of the EC market. Both the U.S. and the EC share a common interest in avoiding trade wars: the challenge for the 1990s is for national, state, and local actors to recognize this and to establish a new era of cooperation.