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The New Transatlantic Partnership

In February 2019, speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference, former Vice President Joe Biden promised that “America will be back” when Donald Trump’s term comes to an end. His speech was met with a standing ovation, exposing an open secret: The state of the transatlantic alliance is in disarray. This month, Biden once again took the world stage, this time as the newly elected US President. But the return of a familiar face and respected ally does not mean a return to the old status quo. In the last four years, the Trump administration has altered the course of the liberal international order with its promise of “America First”. Trump’s counterstance to the previous administration’s policies on the environment, defence, trade, freedom of the press and foreign affairs has weakened the state of Western diplomacy.
President Biden is expected to mend many of the divisions that have formed as of late. But Europe would be wise to acknowledge that the world looks very different now than it did four years ago and to navigate a new transatlantic partnership accordingly.

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Forum

Taming the Chinese Dragon: A Promising Cornerstone for Transatlantic Trade Cooperation?

There is great anticipation for a strengthened transatlantic cooperation in the new post-Trump era. A common and recurring suggestion of a number of proposals is to counter state-driven forms of capitalism. Simon Evenett examines the claims made in such proposals that transatlantic cooperation should tackle the Chinese Dragon and has the means to do so - and finds them wanting. Evenett highlights the prerequisites for translating stated intentions into a coherent international economic strategy.

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Forum

Reinventing the Transatlantic Agenda

A second term for Trump would have almost certainly meant a further erosion of US democracy and the postwar liberal order, writes Steven Blockmans. With Joe Biden’s victory, there is at least a four-year window to revive ‘an alliance of democracies’, face up to authoritarian powers and closed economies that exploit the openness on which American and European societies are built, and shape those parts of multilateralism that serve transatlantic interests.

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The Covid-19 Response

The Economics of the Coronavirus Crisis

Intereconomics will be publishing all coronavirus crisis related articles online first in order to provide our readers up-to-date information as this unprecedented situation continues to unfold.

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Editorial

Restoring Public Trust After Trump and COVID-19

On 20 January 2021, there was a peaceful transfer of power in Washington, DC despite outgoing President Trump's best efforts to prevent it. With Joe Biden now at the helm, many anticipate a swift return to the Western diplomacy of the pre-Trump era. But years of post-truth politics have eroded public trust and the world, reeling from a global pandemic and a growing recession, looks different today, write Intereconomics editors Jiffer Bourguignon and Ekaterina Sprenger. In order to rebuild the transatlantic alliance and restore public trust in government and its institutions, governments in both the EU and the US must implement recovery measures swiftly, efficiently and decisively.

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Quote of the Month

"President Biden’s foreign and security policy should build on democratic security by offering the prospect and promise of a fresh democratic future, not merely a fixed version of the past, while avoiding the pitfalls of democratic exceptionalism."

From Simona R. Soare's Forum article, "Biden's Security Policy: Democratic Security or Democratic Exceptionalism?

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Forum

Economic Recovery in the Age of COVID-19

With the world on the brink of yet another steep recession, and with ecological disaster looming, we can no longer afford the luxury of an economic policy which concentrates on the fight against inflation, leaves unemployment to emergency measures, distribution of wealth and income to the market, and ignores ecological challenges, writes Robert Skidelsky.

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