The AmChams in Europe network, which represents 45 AmChams in 43 countries in Europe and wider Europe, travels every year to Washington, DC to meet with high-level US stakeholders.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the annual conference took place virtually this year from Monday, 11 May until Wednesday, 27 May.
Executives from over 30 AmChams gathered together to meet with:
The National Economic Council
The US Chamber of Commerce
Fox Radio News
The US Department of State
The Atlantic Council
The US Department of Commerce
The topics of discussion focused on EU-US relations, US elections, US-UK trade as well as on COVID-19 and its influence on the transatlantic relationship. The importance of collaboration and coordination and the need for Chambers to act as bridgebuilders in these challenging times emerged in every discussion.
In each meeting Susan Danger, CEO, AmCham EU and Chair, AmChams in Europe presented a joint statement published by the network in March 2020, calling for solidarity, coordination and action. You can read it here.
We would like to express our gratitude to the AmChams in Europe Secretariat, held by AmCham Slovenia for organising the virtual conference. We would also like to thank all of the stakeholders that participated in the meetings for their flexibility and insights.
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This week the European Commission unveiled its Tech Sovereignty Package. While the Package’s energy proposals mark a significant step forward for EU energy resilience, the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) proposal overlooks the reality of global technology supply chains and introduces significant legal uncertainty and fragmentation for businesses.
The central question for the Tech Sovereignty Package is how to build resilience without undermining competitiveness. Concerns around overdependence on a limited number of providers, the risk of external disruption to service continuity and the long-term position of the EU’s digital industries are all legitimate. However, greater sovereignty will only be sustainable if it is built on a competitive, diverse and innovative digital ecosystem. The technologies that underpin the global digital economy are developed through highly international supply chains, with innovation spread across multiple markets.
Viewed through this lens, the individual proposals in the Package vary in the extent to which they reinforce resilience while preserving openness and competitiveness. In particular, the proposed CADA risks discriminating against providers that rely on global supply chains – both those based in Europe and those in third countries – even where they offer superior resilience.
‘An origin-based approach is too blunt for such a complex global market’, said Malte Lohan, CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union, commenting on the Package.
‘A more credible path to achieving greater resilience and control in such an interconnected landscape is to define sovereignty in terms of outcomes: secure and reliable technologies, customer choice, strong safeguards against undue interference and a business environment that supports investment and growth. That points to a risk-based framework where the EU is open to working with trusted partners. This trust should be assessed on the basis of objective standards rather than origin alone’, Mr Lohan added.
Last year alone, US technology firms operating in Europe and their supply chains supported €1.0 trillion in EU GDP, equivalent to 5.4% of total output. The scale of this contribution underscores the need for the EU to preserve an open environment with legal clarity and proportionality in any restrictions or safeguards that would impact commercial operations.
The Package’s Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in energy is a positive step that could help unlock the benefits of digitalisation for Europe’s energy needs, enabling faster and more flexible grids. Digitalisation provides new opportunities to strengthen the reliability and resilience of energy systems. If executed well, the roadmap could support the growing demand of Europe’s digital and AI sectors for low-carbon energy.
Ultimately, the importance of the Tech Sovereignty Package extends well beyond the technology sector itself. Manufacturers, healthcare and life sciences, financial services, mobility, energy and retail all increasingly depend on access to advanced digital technologies to innovate and compete. For the Tech Sovereignty Package to support these sectors, it must ensure companies in Europe continue to benefit from economic openness.
Insights and advocacy driving Europe’s policy agenda. Our priorities support growth, innovation and a stronger transatlantic economy.
Connecting business and policymakers to strengthen the voice of American companies in Europe.
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