With Trump back in the White House, the global trade and diplomatic landscape is shifting fast, and the EU and its partners and allies need to get their response right. The new EU Commission is rolling out a competitiveness agenda and plans for economic security, but one of the biggest questions remains: What happens to trade? And what consequences will the trade conflict have for the economy, industries and workers?
Beyond trade, the U.S. and EU are likely to take different paths on China and their broader global partnerships. This matters most for the green transition, where securing access to critical raw materials is key. With resource-rich countries becoming central players, supply chains are being redrawn, and geopolitical alliances are shifting.
On 23–24 April 2025, the Progressive Economics Network (PEN) reconvened for a one-and-a-half-day meeting on “Trade, trust and transition – Shaping the next transatlantic chapter” in Washington, D.C. Held in the fringes of the 2025 World Bank Group/International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, the discussions centred around trade, the changing US-EU relations and strategic partnerships for sustainability, including three main sessions on: The emerging trade regime: Aligning on shared objectives; Guns or butter? Balancing priorities in the transatlantic relationship; The geoeconomics of sustainability: Forming strategic partnerships.
Maria João Rodrigues paticipated as commentator in the first pannel which had as theme “The Emerging Trade Regime – Aligning on shared objectives”. This pannel discussed how Trump’s return disrupted global trade relations and how this reality turned the debate over the purpose and direction of trade policy even more urgent. For close partners, such as Canada and Mexico, and the EU, which are far more trade-dependent than the U.S., the stakes are particularly high in this rapidly evolving ‘America First’ landscape. In this session, it was explored how to address these challenges, how tariffs affect the global economy and which opportunities emerge for progressive solutions on trade.
The Progressive Economic Network (PEN) aims to bring together senior economic advisors, leading researchers and decision-makers from Europe and the United States. The goal of the series is to reflect on political realities on both sides of the Atlantic and put into place na economic plan that is fit for the significant transformational challenges of our economies, incl. armed conflicts in the Ukraine and the Middle East, the climate crisis and shifts in geopolitics. PEN is co-organised by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), the FriedrichEbert-Stiftung (FES) and Das Progressive Zentrum (DPZ).