International Affairs
The Luxembourg American Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with the Luxembourg Chambre de Commerce and AmCham, organized a webinar with Gaston Stronck, the Ambassador of Luxembourg to the United States on June 24. Ambassador Stronck discussed EU-US and Luxembourg-US relations in times of Covid-19.
He described the multi-layered efforts that Luxembourg had undertaken to stem Covid-19, including massive testing to allow for a gradual reopening of the economy, and detailed some of the economic, financial and fiscal measures taken to benefit all sectors in order to limit the impact of Covid-19 on the Luxembourg economy. The relationship between Luxembourg and the United States remains solid and steadfast, as illustrated by the figures of trade and investment in both directions. Luxembourg remains fifth in the list of countries where most foreign direct investments to the United States originates and this investment supports over 13,000 jobs in the United States. Many US companies are headquartered in Luxembourg, while many Luxembourg-based companies operate in the US in a variety of sectors. The most recent area of increased bilateral cooperation is space and the development of new space activities.
Luxembourg looks forward to deepen that partnership, in particular in the context of NASA’s Artemis project. The relationship between the European Union and the United States is certainly strained in political terms, but economic and trade relations remain steady, despite the rhetoric. The Ambassador pointed out that 98% of trade between the EU and the US is dispute-free, and that transatlantic commercial sales amount the approximately 5 trillion USD per year – good reasons for the Americans and the Europeans to continue to strive to keep the transatlantic relationship healthy and mutually supportive. Ambassador Stronck outlined some of the recent proposals by EU Trade Commission Phil Hogan to move forward to deepen EU-US trade relations, e.g. in the field of pharmaceutical products.
The webinar ended with a Q&A session, as well as brief presentations of the current activities of AmCham (speaker Paul Schonenberg) and the Chamber of Commerce, (speaker Cindy Tereba), and of the Consulates General of Luxembourg in New York, Jeanne Crauser and San Francisco, Pierre Franck. The next webinar will take place on July 22 with James Randolph Evans, Ambassador of the United States to Luxembourg.