Transatlantic relations: Structural divergence and common interests

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• Department of Political and Social Sciences

Join Professor Erik Jones, Director of the Robert Schuman Centre as he presents his recent research at the Political Economy Working Group.

The transatlantic relationship has been deteriorating for some time. The recent turmoil caused by the second Trump administration has exacerbated the rift, but it did not create it. The deeper tension comes from a misunderstanding on both sides of the Atlantic of the implications of participating in a globalized world economy.

In this seminar, Erik Jones will explore how those implications have chipped away at domestic support for globalisation, and pushed politicians on both sides of the Atlantic to turn away from common institutions and cooperative arrangements. Europeans and American retain common interests in a close transatlantic partnership, but those common interests are not strong enough to ignore the damage that has been done.

The Biden administration was unable to muster sufficient domestic political support to engineer a rapprochement. The second Trump administration is headed in the opposite direction, and both sides of the Atlantic are likely to suffer as a consequence.