Wednesday 6 May 2026 at 6pm (UK time)
VIRTUAL CONVERSATION
Transatlantic Partnership: challenges and opportunities ahead
With Bruce Stokes, visiting senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, plus Thomas Spiller, Vice President, Global Public Policy, Europe, Middle East & Africa, The Walt Disney Company, and moderated by Alex Boyd
What will the event cover?
One year into the return of a Trump presidency, this panel will assess the tangible political and strategic consequences that have reshaped transatlantic relations. It will examine how documented shifts in US policy have transformed established frameworks for cooperation across trade, defence, and technology. The recent publication of both the National Security Strategy (NSS) and the National Defense Strategy (NDS) clearly show that Europe must now take responsiblity for its conventional defence.
The discussion will explore how the UK, EU, and US are navigating this phase in their relationship and assess whether shared interests have proven sufficient to sustain meaningful cooperation amid increasing geopolitical competition. Key topics will include the actual response to China's continued rise; how NATO and collective security arrangements have evolved in practice; concrete changes to transatlantic trade relationships, and the divergent approaches to digital governance and industrial policy that have emerged.
The panel will finally reflect on what role the UK and Europe have actually played in attempting to shape a coherent Western response to rapid global changes and what lessons can be drawn for the long-term future of the transatlantic alliance in the 2030’s.
- With the NATO Summit decision last June for members to meet a 5% GDP target by 2035, how is the transatlantic alliance adapting to continue to operate effectively ? How can the UK, EU and US stay aligned on defence, technology and trade in the years ahead?
- Will the Trump presidency focus for US disengagement in Europe be a temporary phenomenon , or is this a longer term trend ? What is the current outlook for the Midterm elections in November?
- Now that the European Parliament has approved the EU US Trade deal b a large margin, is there room for transatlantic cooperation to improve?
Speakers' bios
Bruce Stokes is a visiting senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington DC, a non-resident fellow at Chatham House in London and a member of the board of the Transatlantic Policy Network.
He has been the director of international economic polling at the Pew Research Center, where he helped design their global public opinion research; a senior fellow at both the German Marshall Fund and the Council of Foreign Relation; and the international economics correspondent for the National Journal, a Washington public policy magazine.
He is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and attended the School of Journalism at Columbia University.
Thomas Spiller is Vice President, Global Public Policy, Europe, Middle East & Africa, The Walt Disney Company. Thomas is a senior public policy executive with deep expertise in EU regulation, international government relations, and strategic advocacy. At Disney, he plays a key role in shaping the company’s policy positions across EMEA, particularly in highly regulated areas such as media, digital platforms, and competition policy.
Thomas has a wealth of experience in public policy, with notable positions at The Walt Disney Company, British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium, SAS, GE, and Orano. Thomas has held various leadership roles, including President and Vice President, where Thomas has been responsible for creating and implementing global public policy strategies to support business growth and identify future opportunities. Thomas holds a post-graduate Diploma in Law, Political Science, Defense & Security, and Political Communication from the University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne.
Alex Boyd is a Director at Strand Partners, a consultancy based in London. He formerly worked as a senior civil servant and special adviser in UK Government as well as in the European Parliament. Alex is also a Director of the Ideas Network 2030.