NEW VOICES – NEW IDEAS? The United States, Germany, and Europe in the World

The transatlantic partnership was put under pressure with the previous US administration. President Trump’s transactional, disruptive
and unilateral approach proved to be challenging for the European partners committed to multilateralism and consensus.
Therefore, maintaining dialogue was particularly important and the EU tried to adopt its position accordingly. The cooperation with the new Biden administration was widely anticipated to address common global challenges. However, expectations were not and have not yet been fully met as Biden’s political agenda is dominated by internal politics.

Some positions are controversial, especially in the area of foreign and security policy. The withdrawal from Afghanistan has recently strained relations between the U.S., the EU and NATO. At the same time, NATO is facing a debate about its future: should the alliance maintain its focus on collective (hard-)defence, or open to a wider regional and thematic scope? Some Europeans are attempting to integrate their defence cooperation to become a stronger partner in the alliance.

This panel discussion is the third in a series of dialogues the offices of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Brussels and Washington, DC have been holding since 2019 to discuss various challenges within the transatlantic partnership. Ambassador Daniel B. Baer, former U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE (2013–2017) and Ambassador Rüdiger König, Permanent Representative of Germany to NATO, will discuss whether the America that is back is the America Europe was expecting. Is Joe Biden a good faith actor in the transatlantic relationship, or are actions failing to meet friendly rhetoric? How can the transatlantic partnership of the future look like?

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