WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trade agreement between the United States and the European Union would give the transatlantic partners a much-needed economic boost at a time of rising global competition, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday.

"If we get this right, an agreement that opens markets and liberalizes trade would shore up our global competitiveness for the next century, creating jobs and generating hundreds of billions of dollars for our economies," Clinton said in a speech at the Brookings Institution.

(Reporting By Andrew Quinn and Doug Palmer; Editing by Vicki Allen)