Transatlantic Trade Week 2024

The EU’s Economic Security Strategy from June states that with “geopolitical tensions rising and global economic integration deeper than ever before, certain economic flows and activities can present a risk to our security.” And the G7 Hiroshima summit has defined economic security to include building resilient supply chains, responding to non-market policies and practices to secure global economic resilience, addressing economic coercion, and cooperating on international standards setting. This roundtable event will focus on the degree to which the United States, Germany, and the European Union can and should pursue common trade, technology, and climate policies that respond to the imperatives of a more contentious global economy, one where free trade may no longer be the only policy paradigm, and geopolitical considerations will increasingly determine transatlantic economic engagement.

The United States, Germany, and the European Union will increasingly need to draw upon their international trade and economic policies—both individually and together—to engage countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America on common interests. While the idea of the “Global South” is gaining currency, the transatlantic economies share several overlapping conceptions about prosperity, security, and values with a number of these countries. The imperative to derisk supply chains—whether for geopolitical, climate, or broader resilience reasons—and to renew the global economic architecture mean that U.S. and EU relations with countries like Brazil, Indonesia, and India among others will grow in importance. 

This online event explores the roles that trade agreements like EU-Mercosur, new approaches like the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework or the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, critical minerals partnerships, as well as cooperation in the WTO can play to promote transatlantic geoeconomic objectives.

Welcome Remarks:

• Jeffrey Rathke, President, AGI 
• Dr. Hardy Ostry, Resident Representative, KAS Office USA

 

Panelists:

• Heather Hurlburt, Associate Fellow at Chatham House and former USTR Chief of Staff
• Michael Kilpper, Deputy Head of Division, USA, Canada, Mexico, German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
• Dan Mullaney, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East
• Luisa Santos, Deputy Director-General of BusinessEurope
• Claudia Schmucker, Head of the Center for Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, and Technology, German Council on Foreign Relations

Moderator:

• Peter Rashish, Vice President & Director, Geoeconomics Program, AGI