Donald Trump is once again President of the United States. The election outcome serves as a wake-up call for Europe and Germany to take decisive action. Businesses are increasingly concerned about the possibility of new tariffs and economic turbulence. What should companies brace themselves for? And how can we shape a renewed era of transatlantic cooperation?

In mid-August 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). The act is intended to counter high inflation and promote climate protection in the United States. In the EU, the law has triggered concerns about the future of Europe as an investment location.

Hardly any country has shaped the multilateral trading system as much as the United States. With his "America First" policy, however, 45th U.S. President Donald Trump undermined international trade law – at considerable cost to the United States and its allies as well. Under Joe Biden, other trade policy priorities are now becoming clear.

While transatlantic relations suffered during the presidency of Donald Trump, they have improved markedly under President Joe Biden. Nevertheless, it remains apparent that some trends of previous years in U.S. trade policy are continuing on a sustained basis.

"The Inflation Reduction Act IRA of the USA must be a wake-up call for Europe", explains Heiko Willems, BDI/BDA The German Business Representation. He explains in an interview how the transformation to climate neutrality can succeed in Europe and what measures are required.

On May 15 and 16, 2022, the second meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) took place in France. The TTC sends a much-needed powerful signal of transatlantic solidarity und unity. German industry is pleased to see that the United States and EU are cooperating more closely than they have in decades. Concrete action should now follow the political commitments.

“I want to say to you, America is back. Multilateralism is back. Diplomacy is back”. With these words the U.S. diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield wishes to bring the United States back to the international stage. Her words are also a positive sign for climate protection, considering that global heavyweights like China and Japan have already announced higher climate protection goals. Is climate diplomacy thus awakening from four years of hibernation?

Since spring 2019, the United States and the European Union have been negotiating trade agreements to dismantle tariffs on industrial goods and to reduce non-tariff barriers by mutual recognizing conformity assessments for technical standards. In late November 2019, the European Commission published its proposal for an agreement on conformity assessment. Both sides would benefit from such an agreement.

During the election campaign, U.S. President Donald Trump had already called the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) the “worst deal ever” and threatened to terminate it. Finally, a new version was negotiated: the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The agreement became one of the President’s top trade policy priorities.

From October 2018 to November 2019, Americans and Germans celebrated the transatlantic friendship in the United States. Under the motto “Wunderbar together - Germany and the U.S.”, an initiative funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, implemented by the Goethe-Institut, and supported by the Federation of German Industries (BDI), a multitude of events took place all over the United States.