Early on the morning of November 6^th – well after most US Election Night 2024 event guests departed our proudly adorned red, white and blue downtown Oslo venue – it became apparent that Kamala Harris would not win the presidency and that a Trump-Vance administration would assume power on January 20^th. It has since been confirmed that both congressional chambers will have Republican majorities.

As political hearts both sank and soared, declarations congratulating election winners began to ring out from fellow transatlantic organizations. You could almost see the “please don’t do it” writing between their trade statistic-laden lines. Please don’t irrevocably damage transatlantic relationships. Please don’t block mutually beneficial value creation. Please don’t relegate all US green transition policies to the dustbin of history.

Change Happens

Like it or not, Americans overwhelmingly voted for economic, social and foreign policy change. These changes – now mostly in the form of contentious nominee announcements and who they’re meeting early with – are being deftly delivered from Mar-a-Lago and widely communicated to a ravenous domestic and international audience. In the early days absence of actual legislative proposals, much weight is being put on cabinet nominee personalities (and national ancestry), bombastic campaign rhetoric and lessons learned from the 2017-20 administration.

Perceived threats and opportunities aside, change is happening and there are absolutely gains to be made by deepening our understanding of policy impacts – in both countries – over the coming months. AmCham, with our many deeply committed transatlantic members and partners, is uniquely positioned to help business leaders process, anticipate, calibrate and enact.