The 2020 American Academy of Diplomacy Conference: Does Europe Still Matter to America? was was co-hosted by the American Academy of Diplomacy, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, and the University of Virginia Center for Politics on October 24, 2020. Recording available. 

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American policy toward Europe has become compartmentalized. Should the US pull out of NATO if members do not pay enough or rally NATO to confront Russia and continue years of support in Afghanistan? Europe is a major trading partner, but we have trade wars. Years of support for the European Union are in question as President Trump supports Brexit. This year’s conference will step back to look at the fundamentals of our relationship with Europe.

 

To answer these and other questions, the conference brought together a diverse group of experts. The panel discussion featured the former U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic, Pamela Spratlen; the former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Robert E. Hunter; and the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative in charge of Europe and the Middle East, Shaun Donnelly. They examined the importance of European and American trade, how Russian policy affects trans-Atlantic trade and diplomatic relations, and how American diplomacy fits into a post-Brexit European Union.