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 James Rogers, Co-Founder (Research), Council on Geostrategy, 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.
James Rogers is Co-founder (Research) at the Council on Geostrategy, where he specialises in British strategic policy in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific, and net assessment. He has pioneered work on Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific connectivities, as well as net assessment and strategic advantage. Previously, he held a range of positions including at the Baltic Defence College in Estonia and the European Union Institute for Security Studies in France. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Durham Institute of Research, Development and Invention (DIRDI).
James has given oral evidence at the Foreign Affairs, Defence, and International Development committees in the House of Commons, and the Defence and International Relations and European Affairs committees in the House of Lords. He consults regularly with the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Defence, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on foreign affairs and national security. He holds an MPhil in Contemporary European Studies from the University of Cambridge and an award-winning BSc Econ (Hons.) in International Politics and Strategic Studies from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
James has appeared on Times Radio, Sky News and LBC Radio and has written for Times Red Box, the Kyiv Independent, The Spectator and CityAM. He has also been quoted in Newsweek and numerous other publications.
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.
