An important requirement for sustaining and updating the open, rules-based order is cooperation among like-minded democracies in the United States, Europe, and Asia. For a variety of historical, cultural, and political reasons, there has been a tendency to consider Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific issues separately. Though the United States has alliances in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, they have tended to operate on separate policy tracks. In an increasingly globalized world, the result is a gap in consultation and coordination on important issues of mutual concern among Atlantic and Pacific actors.

The European Union (EU) has some $600 billion in trade with China, roughly the same amount as the United States, but China is far down the list of priority issues in US-EU discussions. Similarly, Japan has over $300 billion in trade with China and some $120 billion in trade with the EU. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly stressed the importance of sustaining, defending, and adapting an open, rules-based global economic and political system as key to peace and prosperity. 

To bridge the gap, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security is hosting this event to discuss the prospective global issues of mutual concern and to develop ways and means to encourage and better institutionalize cooperation among Atlantic-Pacific actors.  

Dr. Ellen L. Frost 
Senior Advisor
East-West Center

Mr. Yoichi Kato
Senior Research Fellow
Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation

Dr. Niklas Swanström
Executive Director
Institute for Security and Development Policy

Dr. Theresa Fallon
Director
Centre for Russia, Europe, Asia Studies 

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