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Transatlantic Conference 2024: in review
This year’s Transatlantic Conference, ‘The transatlantic effect: shaping the global agenda’ put the focus on how Europe and the US can shape global values, set international standards and drive change. The conference took place on Tuesday, 19 March 2024 and featured a range of industry and institution speakers from both sides of the Atlantic. As an opening video, Gina Raimondo, US Secretary of Commerce, underlined the importance of keeping the transatlantic dialogue open through forums like the Trade and Technology Council (TTC). Stephen Boyle, Global Chief Trust Officer, Workday, then expanded on why businesses need to be transparent and trustworthy, especially with rapid advancements in technology. Want to see for yourself? Tune into the recording of both the morning and afternoon sections.
Following the opening keynotes, Susan Danger, CEO, AmCham EU sat down with Jean-François van Boxmeer, Chair, European Round Table for Industry and Chair, Vodafone Group to get his take on attractiveness of Europe. From his view, Single Market fragmentation and the lack of a growth oriented mindset are what are holding Europe back from regaining its competitiveness. You can learn more about what Europe needs to do to reset the agenda and strengthen its competitiveness in the global economy in our Agenda for Action.
The conference included a series of panel discussions, diving into key priorities for the transatlantic relationship. First was a conversation examining how shifting power dynamics are impacting the ability of the EU and US to remain global standard setters. The panellists focused on transatlantic cooperation and the need to collaborate with industry in addressing shared issues, such as in Ukraine.
Afterwards, Tanja Fajon, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Government of the Republic of Slovenia took to the stage. While addressing the geopolitical challenges threatening the transatlantic partnership, she remained optimistic about tackling these issues and saw closer cooperation as the answer to many of the issues we face .
Following the initial panel discussions, Marjorie Chorlins, Daniel Hamilton and Joseph Quinlan presented the key findings of The Transatlantic Economy 2024, the annual survey of transatlantic jobs, trade and investment. The 21st edition of the report features new insights into the international support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, major shifts in the transatlantic energy economy, the reconfiguration of global supply chains with derisking strategies at play, relations with China as well as the green and digital transitions.
Our next panel explained why we should look to the transatlantic relationship to find solutions to global challenges. They dove into the responses that both sides of the Atlantic have had to recent economic disruptions and how we can use incentives to get growth back on track.
After the lunch and networking session, we heard from Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President, European Commission via a pre-recorded video. Mark Gitenstein, US Ambassador to the European Union, then joined us to give his perspective on how the relationship between both sides of the Atlantic is deeper and stronger than ever before.
Our final three panel discussion of the day all centered around future-proofing the EU-US relationship, reigniting the attractiveness of Europe and hearing how the transatlantic relationship is seen from the outside. Throughout the panels, the importance of institutionalising progress made through forums like the TTC and taking a united approach to challenges was repeated. Liam Benham (Boeing), Chair, AmCham EU summed up the conference with unity, regulatory simplification and maintaining dialogue as his top three takeaways.