Ahead of US President Biden’s trip to Europe, where he will attend the G7 summit, the Nato summit and the US-EU summit, the Socialists and Democrats express high expectations for moving the progressive agenda forward, putting democracy, the rule of law and the fight against inequalities at its centre. We need to build stronger ties and a more resilient alliance of democracies to reinvigorate the multilateral world order and resist the assertive authoritarians working to undermine it. We also need to pool energies in the fight against the climate emergency and build greener and more robust sustainable growth for more inclusive societies.

President Biden’s push for an ambitious global corporate tax rate and G7 finance ministers’ vow last week to support a deal come as the best introduction for next week’s meetings.

The S&D Group is ready to work on a new strong transatlantic alliance between progressive forces, and to build a new multilateral global order. Read more on the S&D progressive strategy for a reinforced transatlantic partnership.

Tonino Picula MEP, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on the US and the S&D spokesperson on foreign affairs, said:

“It’s highly significant that US President Joe Biden choose Europe as the destination of his first overseas trip. We take it as a sign of the renewed commitment to multilateralism and the transatlantic relationship by the Biden-Harris administration.

“The transatlantic link is a bedrock of the international rules-based system that ushered the world into an era of peace and prosperity after WWII. This relationship was undermined by the unilateralist and isolationist tendencies of the Trump administration. We have to seek to redefine our relationship on an equal footing and take greater responsibility.

“Challenges remain – in trade, approaches to Russia and China and other areas, agriculture, and data protection, especially after recent revelations. Nevertheless, we are encouraged by the political will from Washington to tackle our differences in a constructive manner and focus on a constructive common agenda.”

Bernd Lange, S&D MEP, chair of the Parliament’s trade committee and responsible for EU-US trade, said:

“Not everything has changed, but a lot of things are better now. US President Biden’s commitment to a rules-based multilateral order is much-needed remedy for the wounds Trump inflicted on global trade relations with his unilateral and unlawful measures. As a confidence building step, the new US administration must first work towards rectifying Trump’s bad decisions, such as the unjustified tariffs on steel and aluminium. Our goal is not only to repair EU-US trade relations, but build them back better than before by putting workers, wages, combatting the pandemic and a sustainable economic recovery at the heart of our progressive transatlantic trade agenda. One key deliverable at the summit should be the Trade & Technology Council.

“The elephant in the room at the EU-US Summit is China. It's clear: we should co-operate with China on many issues such as climate change. At the same time, the EU and the US need to act jointly as equal partners in tackling trade distorting practices. Whether we will be able to agree on a joint strategic approach towards China will be one of the key questions defining our transatlantic relationship."