March 25, 2024

It’s time for Congress to commit to better U.S.-EU relations

By: Nicholas Lokker and Jason C. Moyer

This year’s presidential election in the United States could bring about a deep freeze at the highest political levels of U.S.-EU relations. If Donald Trump returns to the White House, his views of the European Union as a “foe” would likely make cooperation between the U.S. and EU executive branches much more difficult.

In the context of a slew of global challenges requiring effective U.S-EU cooperation, the legislative branch must be ready to pick up the slack.

The United States and European Union can only tackle their joint challenges through greater dialogue.

Dialogue can help solve many of the most crucial issues, including the need to regulate both large established technology platforms and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence; address the challenges of climate change and China through measures such as industrial policy and carbon pricing; and plan for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Each of these areas is characterized by preexisting or potential divergence in approaches, but making sure that the officials involved in crafting legislation are talking to each other regularly can help to bridge the transatlantic gap and ensure that issues do not become exacerbated or stuck due to misunderstandings.

But despite claiming to be partners of first resort, the United States and the European Union currently lack anything approaching effective legislative dialogue.

Read the full article from The Hill.

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