Trade, trust and transition

Progressive Economics Network (PEN) 2025 meeting in Washington D.C.

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.

But while differences are inevitable, transatlantic cooperation can’t just be written off. People on both sides of the Atlantic aren’t looking for confrontation—progressives, in particular, have always put people first. The challenge now is to find common ground beyond high-level politics—between parliaments, trade unions, and civil society—to keep the partnership strong and focused on shared prosperity.

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., hosted at the Center for American Progress (CAP). 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

During the meeting, FEPS and CAP also launched a series of short briefs on transatlantic relations focused on climate and energy, security and defence, trade and industrial policy, migration as well as digital and democracy.

Among our speakers:

• Brando Benifei, Member of the European Parliament; Chair of the Delegation for Relations with the United States
• Lina Gálvez Muñoz, Member of the European Parliament; FEPS Vice-President
• Bernd Lange, Member of the European Parliament; Chair of the Committee on International Trade (online)
• Elizabeth Baltzan, former Senior Advisor, Office of the United States Trade Representative
• Zoltán Vajda, Member of the Hungarian Parliament, Chair of the Budget Committee and Professor of Economics at the International Business School (IBS)
• Armand Zorn, Member of Parliament, Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
• José Domingo Roselló Gómez-Lobo, Head of Unit of Macroeconomic and Financial Policies at the Cabinet Office of the Presidency, Government of Spain
• Maria João Rodrigues, FEPS President
• Peter S. Rashish, Vice President and Director of the Geoeconomics Program, American-German Institute (AGI)
• Candace Archer, Policy Director, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
• Max Bergmann, Director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
• Bodo Ellmers, Program Director for Financing for Sustainable Development, Global Policy Forum Europe
• Isabella Weber, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Federico Steinberg, Prince of Asturias Distinguished Visiting Professor, Georgetown University; Visiting Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); former Special Adviser to HR/VP Josep Borrell

The Progressive Economics Network (PEN) is a joint initiative of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and Das Progressive Zentrum (DPZ) to advance the discussion of key economic issues by bringing together leading economic advisers, researchers, and decision-makers from both sides of the Atlantic for open, frank, and private exchanges. The aim is to facilitate the brainstorming of innovative policy proposals on current economic challenges, with a focus on shaping progressive solutions.

This event was upon invitation only. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Vanessa Zwisele, FEPS Project Officer (vanessa.zwisele@feps-europe.eu).