“This is excellent news for businesses and industries on both sides of the Atlantic,” she said.
With the initiative to ease the aircraft fight that long weighed on trade relations, the 27-nation bloc is seeking to rekindle the spirit of cooperation between Washington and Europe that has long defined global diplomacy.
Von der Leyen hopes it is the first indication that both the United States and Europe will stand shoulder to shoulder like they so often over the past century to face global challenges.
Von der Leyen said she invited Biden to a global health summit in Rome on May 21 to streamline the fight against COVID-19, the common enemy that has killed over a million people in the EU and U.S. combined. She hope it would extend to foreign policy issues as well, where both could cooperate better to face the rising power of China.
Starting a new job is always daunting. For Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who just weeks ago started a new stint as director general at the World Trade Organization, the timing could not be more trying: she is taking over the world s largest global trade body amid once-in-a-generation public health and economic crises that have emboldened protectionist inclinations around the world.
Who is Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and how has her worldview shaped her politics and policymaking? p strong Nigerian trailblazer. /strong em strong Investing in women is smart economics, and investing in girls, catching them upstream, is even smarter economics. /strong /em /p p As Nigeria s first female finance minister (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) under presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, Okonjo-Iweala oversaw sweeping financial reforms that helped stabilize the country s volatile economy. Indeed, her leadership was crucial in ensuring $18 billion in a href https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/21/wo
President Joe Biden’s favorite tag line—“America is back”—featured prominently in his video address to the Munich Security Conference last week. It is a welcome message in Europe after Donald Trump’s presidency, but Biden is returning to a trans-Atlantic alliance marked by new uncertainty and division.
April 2, 2021 last updated 16:22 ET French President Emmanuel Macron, right, attends a videoconference meeting as U.S. President Joe Biden appears on a screen, Paris, Feb. 19, 2021 (pool photo by Benoit Tessier via AP Images).
America Comes and Goes. Trans-Atlantic Tensions Are Forever
“First thing I’m going to have to do, and I’m not joking,” candidate Joe Biden said last September in a campaign interview about America’s European allies. “If elected I’m going to … get on the phone with the heads of state and say America’s back, you can count on us.”
In the end, he delivered his franchise tag line not by phone, but in a video address to a “special edition” of the Munich Security Conference during his first round of trans-Atlantic diplomacy last week. And he added a slight twist: “America is back. The trans-Atlantic alliance is back.” .
on improving transatlantic relations and coordination on major China issues.
There are different concrete steps and some varying nuances – but the key in every case is that President Biden must work with allies to forge a common approach, which will require some pushing, but also some giving. For example, at the WTO we already saw the Biden administration end one impasse the Trump team had created over the director general nomination. Reforming the dispute settlement procedures will be a more difficult compromise. But certainly, getting the WTO back on track and working with allies to offer a united front both inside and outside the WTO toward fairer trade practices vis-à-vis China, including issues such as industrial subsidies and market access, is a key recommendation.