The Deep Structure of Transatlantic Relations - Part III
23. - 24. April 2026, Washington, D.C.
Background
Over the past five centuries, Europe and North America have wielded an outsized influence over the rest of the globe. In the past century, they have often done so together. Today, the transatlantic partnership between North America and Europe has been (and remains) the densest and most stable form of global cooperation among great powers anywhere. Despite the continuing aggregate weight of transatlantic countries in world affairs, however, many observers now insist that our era is characterized by “the rise of the rest”—a world in which Euro-American influence outside of the transatlantic zone is slowly fading away. Both European and North American decision-makers take this possibility seriously. Over the last two decades, for example, NATO and EU defense cooperation has been relaunched and refocused more than once. Both the EU, with its Global Gateway strategy, and the US with the G7 Build Back Better World initative, have elaborated infrastructure strategies for the Global South to counter China’s influence. Political, military, and economic competition for influence in the African continent is underway. Formal global multilateral trade liberalization is at a standstill, though many narrower arrangements proceed. Competing visions of global financial order have emerged. We begin with the implicit premise that if the US and Europe are to maximize their influence over global politics in the 21st century, they must work together—at least to some extent and in some issues, tacitly or explicitly. This project investigates how much cooperation actually takes place, to what extent it is efficient, how gains and losses are distributed, and how we can explain this—with an ultimate goal of deriving data-based policy prescriptions.
Program
THURSDAY, April 23
Welcome Remarks
09:00
Welcome
09:10
Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt, Andrew Moravcsik, Erik Jones, Marianne Riddervold
Presentation & Discussion of the Introduction “The Deep Structure of Transatlantic Relations: Diversity and Complementarity”
Panel I: Origins and Evolution of Transatlantic Relations
Chair: Elaine Fahey Discussant: Erik Jones
10:30
Michael Smith
Transatlantic Relations in an Interpolar World: Structural and Conjunctural Origins of Convergence and Divergence
11:15
Orfeo Fioretos & Hippolyte Milet-Likhachev
Transatlantic Bricolage: Structure and Improvisation in Industrial and Security Cooperation
12:00
LUNCH
Panel II: The Structure of Technology Cooperation
Chair: Stephanie Hofmann Discussant: Sophie Meunier
13:00
Frédéric Merand & François Gionet
Big Tech and Transatlantic Relations: From Collective Pushback to Geopolitical Clash?
13:45
Elaine Fahey
On the Drivers of Soft Law and Hard Law in the Future of EU-US Trade Technology Cooperation
14:30
Alasdair R. Young, Scott A. W. Brown & Emili Sabanovic
Who Can you Count on When Chips Are Down? Transatlantic Cooperation When Confronting China
15:15
COFFEE BREAK
Panel III: The Structure of Transatlantic Trade Relations
Chair: Ingrid Hjertaker Discussant: Alasdair Young
15:45
Mark Pollack
The Deep Structural Origins of Transatlantic Trade Relations
16:30
Stefan A. Schirm
The EU’s path to Turnberry: societal influences, member state preferences, and the Commission’s leeway
17:15
Tim Heinkelmann-Wild
Europe’s Loyalty Dilemma: Defending Multilateralism or Following US Withdrawal
19:00
DINNER
FRIDAY, April 24
Panel IV: Transatlantic Diversity in Global Infrastructure Financing
Chair: Mai'a K. Davis Cross Discussant: Mark Pollack
09:00
Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt & Tony Mueller
The Transformation of Transatlantic Cooperation: From Coordination to Geopolitical Competition in Global Infrastructure Financing
09:45
Andrew Moravsik
Follow the Money: Burden-Sharing in Transatlantic Relations
Panel V: Defense and Strategic Autonomy
Chair: Tim Heinkelmann-Wild Discussant: Frédéric Merand
10:30
Stephanie Hofmann
All for One? The Politics and Fragility of Mutual Defense
11:15
Lars Gjesvik, Marianne Riddervold & Claudia Aanonsen
Pulling the Plug? Transatlantic Relations and EU Strategic Autonomy
12:00
LUNCH
Panel VI: Transatlantic Relations in the Financial Sector and Science & Technology
Chair: Stefan Schirm Discussant: Marianne Riddervold
13:00
Erik Jones
Loosening Ties that Bind: Financial Telecommunications, Currency Transactions, and Intellectual Property
13:45
Ingrid Hjertaker
Friends no more? Transatlantic Central Bank Cooperation in New Geopolitical Times
14:30
Mai’a K. Davis Cross
Transatlantic Relations in Science & Technology: The Cases of CERN and ITER
Closing Remarks & Next Steps
15:15 - 15:45
Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt, Andrew Moravcsik, Erik Jones, Marianne Riddervold
Closing Remarks & Steps Ahead for the Submission of the SI
