On June 13th, BritishAmerican Business will be hosting the annual Transatlantic Conference for our affiliate group of chapters, The BAB Network, from 22 cities and regions of the US and UK. For anyone interested in attending what will be a great day of debate and discussion you can follow the links here. Huge thanks to our friends at Bank of America who will be hosting us for the day and kudos to Tamra Eker, BAB Managing Director, who also acts as President of the BAB Network and to Alice Mount, our Executive Director in London who has worked wonders to pull a brilliant program together!
The conference touches on all the core issues that businesses in our membership are focusing on and there is a stellar line-up of speakers from member companies, from government and from the think tank and editorial community. Sessions will examine the state of the US-UK trade and investment relationship, the evolution of the labor market, how companies and government are working on sustainability issues, and the ever-evolving challenges of the digital economy. We will also be unveiling the results of our annual Transatlantic Confidence Index, produced in partnership with Bain & Company, which reports on the confidence of companies doing business across the Atlantic.
It is inevitable that each of these discussions will be influenced by the great macro questions of geo-political change as China and India start to reflect on the world scene, the sheer scale of their populations and the ramifications of Covid-era policies and the war in Ukraine on supply chains and inflation. Commitments made by the West to carbon emissions targets are affecting every business and there isn’t a single company that isn’t assessing the challenges and opportunities for their business from the AI technology that we have started to see.
As this is a BAB event, there will also be the more specific lens of the US-UK economies and relationship to think through and to reflect in the discussion. By then, we hope that the putative deal to raise the US debt ceiling that appears to have been negotiated over the Memorial Day weekend, will have made its way through Congress. We also expect by then that Prime Minister Sunak will have visited Washington DC following the invitation offered by President Biden earlier this year. The recent years of Brexit-related debate followed by the ousting of two Prime Ministers in quick succession last summer has limited the opportunity for the UK to build a relationship with the President and his team; it has also, perhaps not surprisingly, created the impression in the USA of political chaos in the UK, or worse still, a lack of seriousness and competence. Whatever you think of his policies, Sunak has the chance to dispel these impressions and remind the US that the UK is its most important security partner and its largest and longest standing business and investment partner.
May has been another busy and fulfilling month for BAB with a full event program in London and New York City. We hosted presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis on his visit to London and SEC Commissioner, Hester Peirce. Our Policy team, headed by Emanuel Adam, produced a timely White Paper on the UK Life Sciences Sector and we launched our new Trade and Investment Guide to the UK for US businesses. To round off the month we were thrilled to recognize three outstanding individuals and their companies at our annual Transatlantic Business Awards in New York on May 23rd. Huge congratulations to Gillian Tett, Editor at Large at the Financial Times, Steve Squeri, Chairman and CEO at American Express and to Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Chairman at Lloyd’s amongst other things. It was a terrific and inspiring evening and thanks to all the BAB members who supported our Honorees and BAB by turning out for the evening.
