A Message from the Managing Director: Enduring Ties
Early on the morning of November 6th – 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 20th. 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.
Jason Turflinger
More than Norway Marketing
More than a campaign to “make Norway’s US economic contributions known to the incoming administration” as one Norwegian official put it to me recently, public and private sector leaders need to carry out the hard work of enacting specific and tailored market access deals. We need bolstered strategic defense collaboration and procurement – and we need to capitalize on regional US sustainability partnerships, for example.
As our recent report shows, a record 389 US companies are currently operating in Norway. Through them – and companies like Hydro, Equinor, Yara and DNV in the US – we already have the means in place to greatly expand our countries’ economic ties. Enacting policies that let these companies compete fairly, expand and thrive in our respective markets always made good sense. It makes even more sense now.
In the end, government administrations come and go. Personal relationships, business investments, partnerships, and deep-seated cultural ties endure.
