Global Transformation Club hosts Thomas Reott
Last Thursday, The Global Transformation Club hosted Thomas Reott, who currently serves as the Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs at the United States Embassy in Spain. The discussion took place at IE’s Paper Pavilion and was attended by 30 students from the masters and undergraduate programs.
Mr. Reott gave a compelling and insightful presentation focusing primarily on trade between the United States, Spain and the European Union. Furthermore, Mr. Reott discussed certain geopolitical strains (such as tariffs between the European Union and the United States) but affirmed that the transatlantic relationship is vital to ensuring global economic stability.
This point is reinforced by the fact that The United States is Spain’s largest investor. American firms have $55.5 billion (14.4% of total) in investments and employ 178,000 people in Spain, while Spain is the 11th largest investor in the United States with $73 billion in foreign direct investment, supporting over 81,000 jobs.
China was at the center of Mr. Reott’s economic concerns. A map of the world illustrated the United States’ trade deficits with the EU, Australia, but particularly China. U.S officials have strongly criticized China’s manipulation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and President Trump believes America’s deficits are a consequence of China cheating the system. Examples of this include China manipulating its currency, the Yuan, with the strategy of keeping it artificially cheap to boost its export-oriented economy.
In terms of Spanish-American relations, Mr. Reott praised the leadership of Prime Minister Sánchez and affirmed America’s continued belief in strong relations between Washington and Madrid. The timing of the event, however, was ironic. That same day, President Xi Jinping arrived in Madrid for a friendly state visit with Prime Minister Sánchez. According to El País, Spain is now the seventh biggest destination for Chinese investment in Europe and the visit by President Jinping ratifies China’s commitment to securing their investments.
Spanish citizens are clearly skeptical of American leadership under the Trump administration. What America has traditionally stood for is being questioned throughout the world. The questions posed by the audience reflected this feeling. Most questions criticized the current American leadership as threatening to the delicate international order. Mr. Reott made an important distinction between politics and policy, as he demonstrated that under the Trump administration little has changed in terms of actual foreign policy concerning the European Union and Spain.
Events like these represent an important cornerstone of furthering diplomatic relations between the United States and Spain. On behalf of the Global Transformation Club, we would like to thank Thomas Reott and the United States Embassy for agreeing to come to IE. We hope to hold more events in the future.
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