Last month, the US-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) held its inaugural ministerial in Pittsburgh: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Trade Representative Katherine Tai met with European Commissioners Margrethe Vestager and Valdis Dombrovskis. Only three months after the TTC process was launched at the US-EU summit, the two sides committed to significant steps in coordinating policy on issues such as investment screening, export controls, artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and global trade challenges. The meeting also included stakeholder outreach with industry and labor groups, and was followed with further engagements with the private sector and civil society.

Leveraging Half of Global GDP

The TTC’s core logic is that the US and EU can jointly shape the global economic rules for the 21st century, given that the two sides continue to collectively represent nearly half of the world’s income. To be sure, a broader format such as the G-20 represents an even larger proportion of global GDP. But the G-20 also includes authoritarian states such as Russia and China, which do not share the same values and interests as Europe and America. Arguably, the TTC could benefit from the participation of other leading democracies, such as the United Kingdom or Japan, but there are no current plans to expand its membership.

The reinvigorated commitment towards a strong US-EU partnership also saw room for more topical issues to be included into the discussions. The EU seized the opportunity to highlight the importance of climate change for trade, which was welcomed by the US. Both sides agreed that trade policies could not substitute climate legislation, but that the two policy areas should reinforce each other.

Broad Agenda, Periodic Deliverables

Ten working groups span the TTC’s broad agenda: tech standards, climate and clean tech, secure supply chains, information and communication technology services security and competitiveness, data governance and tech platforms, tech misuse threatening security and human rights, export controls, investment screening, SME access to digital tools, and global trade. Although it may be difficult to develop a clear benchmark for success for these efforts—akin to jobs and growth yielded from a trade agreement—US and EU officials expect to be able to announce periodic deliverables, e.g., coordinated subsidies for semiconductors or complementary approaches to AI regulation. These gradual developments might not capture public headlines, but will be of crucial interest to affected firms and organizations.

For instance, the global shortage of semiconductors and their fragile supply chains was high on the TTC’s agenda. Both the EU and US have been adversely affected by semiconductor shortages, especially given that both rely primarily on Taiwan, which holds a near monopoly on production. The two sides have already begun to take legislative steps towards rebalancing their dependence with the European Chips Act and CHIPS for America Act. The Pittsburgh meeting, however, provided the opportunity for both to express their commitment toward coordinating measures to further enhance transparency in this area.

Furthermore, trade distorting and non-market practices provided the transatlantic partners with several common points of interest. There was general agreement to share information on certain sectors, especially new and emerging technologies. China’s presence and increasing dominance in these areas provided additional motivation for both sides to agree to come together to maintain their competitive advantage. It was agreed that a joint effort would be more likely to mitigate China’s efforts than two uncoordinated policies.

Moreover, the US particularly emphasized the importance of developing domestic measures to combat non-market practices. The EU’s investment screening tool was considered a step in the right direction, but there still exists a significant gap in capabilities between the two. Closer cooperation and coordination between the respective domestic policies was agreed to provide the best chances of countering distortive practices.

Cooperation on key future technologies is also set to continue to determine the TTC’s agenda, given China’s significant strides in fields such as AI. As one of the most significant issues during the meeting, the US and EU agreed to tie the joint cooperation on the development of AI to the maintenance and defense of their “shared values and fundamental freedoms.”

TTC’s Separate Track from US-EU Technology Competition Policy Dialogue

Alongside the TTC is another US-EU dialogue on technology competition policy. Whereas the former is about coordinating policies, the latter is about coordinating enforcement actions, e.g., between the Federal Trade Commission and DG Competition, or between the Justice Department and European counterparts. Although at the surface the two dialogues might appear to overlap, they are intentionally kept separate and involve different groups of individuals from the US and EU.

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The TTC’s next ministerial is planned for sometime next year, perhaps in the spring during the French presidency of the Council of the EU. Although the diplomatic fallout from the AUKUS deal continued to cast a shadow over the Pittsburgh meeting and precluded a more vigorous commitment from France, it would be arguably in President Macron’s interest to host the TTC in an old factory turned tech hub in the run-up to the French presidential elections. Furthermore, it may be in the EU’s interest to balance the ministerial participation with the inclusion of HRVP Josep Borrell as counterpart to the US Secretary of State and, more importantly, to leverage the TTC initiatives as part of a broader foreign policy agenda.

The team at Covington is well placed to advise you on these policy developments, and how to engage with the relevant decision-makers in these areas.

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Photo of Marney Cheek Marney Cheek

Marney Cheek co-chairs Covington’s International Arbitration and Disputes practice and has advised companies, non-governmental organizations, and governments on high-stakes international disputes and legal strategy for more than 20 years.

Marney serves as both counsel and advocate before numerous international arbitral tribunals and courts…

Marney Cheek co-chairs Covington’s International Arbitration and Disputes practice and has advised companies, non-governmental organizations, and governments on high-stakes international disputes and legal strategy for more than 20 years.

Marney serves as both counsel and advocate before numerous international arbitral tribunals and courts, including the International Court of Justice and major arbitral institutions such as the AAA, ICSID, PCA, and SIAC. She represents clients in complex international business disputes, having successfully defended a client in a $1.8 billion claim filed by a collaboration partner. Ms. Cheek serves as both counsel and arbitrator in numerous investment treaty arbitrations. She is an expert on public international law and currently represents the Government of Ukraine in its landmark cases before the International Court of Justice adverse to the Russian Federation, including Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation). In addition to leading complex investment treaty and international commercial disputes under the rules of major arbitral institutions, Marney routinely advises clients on public international law matters and issues arising under numerous multilateral treaties. She also is at the forefront of business and human rights disputes, having represented global labor unions in the first binding arbitration brought under a business and human rights compact, the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety.

Drawing upon her experience as Associate General Counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Marney routinely counsels clients on international trade matters and is a member of the roster of arbitrators for several U.S. free trade agreements. Her pro bono work includes representation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, among other matters.

Marney is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves as a Vice President of the American Society of International Law. She has previously taught investment law at Columbia University School of Law. She is recognized as an “extraordinarily thoughtful” and “creative” lawyer with a “wealth of knowledge” on international law matters in Chambers and Legal 500.

Photo of Stuart E. Eizenstat Stuart E. Eizenstat

Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat is Senior Counsel  in Covington & Burling LLP’s international practice. His work at Covington focuses on resolving international trade problems and business disputes with the U.S. and foreign governments, and international business transactions and regulations on behalf…

Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat is Senior Counsel  in Covington & Burling LLP’s international practice. His work at Covington focuses on resolving international trade problems and business disputes with the U.S. and foreign governments, and international business transactions and regulations on behalf of U.S. companies and others around the world. He was an Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (1982-1991), where he taught a course on presidential decision-making. He has been a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution (1981) and the Woodrow Wilson Center (2001).

During a decade and a half of public service in six U.S. administrations, Ambassador Eizenstat has held a number of key senior positions, including Chief White House Domestic Policy Adviser to President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981); U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton Administration (1993-2001).

In the Carter White House, he was major figure in all the domestic legislative achievements of the Carter Administration. He also recommended to President Carter a Presidential Commission on the Holocaust, headed by Elie Wiesel, which led directly to the congressional approval of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

During the Clinton Administration, he had a prominent role in the development of key international initiatives, including the negotiations of the Transatlantic Agenda with the European Union (establishing the framework for the  U.S. relationship with the EU); the development of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) among European and US CEOs; the negotiation of agreements with the European Union regarding the Helms-Burton Act and the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act; the negotiation of the Japan Port Agreement with the Japanese government; and the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, where he led the  U.S. delegation.

Much of the interest in providing belated justice for victims of the Holocaust and other victims of Nazi tyranny during World War II was the result of his leadership of the Clinton Administration as Special Representative of the President and Secretary of State on Holocaust-Era Issues, while continuing to hold his other Senate-confirmed positions. He successfully negotiated major agreements with the Swiss, Germans, Austrian and French, and other European countries, covering restitution of property, payment for slave and forced laborers, recovery of looted art, bank accounts, and payment of insurance policies. He was the principal negotiator of the 1998 Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art with 44 countries, which continues to be a basis for recovery and compensation for Nazi-looted art. His book on these events, Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II, has been favorably received in publications like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Business Week, and Publisher’s Weekly. It has been translated into German, French, Czech and Hebrew.

In addition, during the Obama administration, he served as Special Adviser on Holocaust-Era Issues to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry (2009-2017). During this period of his public service, Ambassador Eizenstat negotiated significant Holocaust-related agreement with the governments of Lithuania (2011), and with France (2014), regarding the deportation of Jews on the French railway. During this time, he was also the principal U.S. negotiator for the Terezin Declaration with 47 countries (2009), which strengthened the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art and urging measures to assist the social welfare of poor, elderly Holocaust survivors, and the agreement with over 40 countries on Best Practices and Guidelines for the Restitution and/or Compensation of Private (Immovable) Property Confiscated by the Nazis and their Collaborators Between 1933-1945. In the Obama Administration, he also served on the Defense Policy Board, for Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.

During the Trump administration, he was appointed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as Expert Adviser to the State Department on Holocaust-Era Issues (2008-2021).

In the Biden administration, he is currently serving as Special Adviser to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Holocaust Issues. In this capacity, he played a major role in the negotiation of the Best Practices for the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art (2024), now supported by 25 countries. He was appointed by President Biden as Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council (2022-present).

Since 2009, he has served as pro bono Special Negotiator for the Jewish Claims Conference in negotiations with the German government, obtaining billions of dollars of benefits for poor Holocaust survivors, for home care, social and medical services, enhanced pensions, hardship payments, child survivor and Kindertransport survivors, special supplemental payments for the poorest of the poor, and worldwide educational benefits.

Ambassador Eizenstat has received more than eighty awards, including eight honorary doctorate degrees from universities and academic institutions. He has been awarded high civilian awards from the governments of France (two Legions of Honor awards in 2004 and 2024), Germany, Austria, Israel, Belgium and Lithuania, as well as from Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and the Alexander Hamilton Award from Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers. In 2003, he received the Great Negotiator Award from Harvard Law School. In 2007, he was named “The Leading Lawyer in International Trade” in Washington, DC by Legal Times. His articles appear in The New York Times, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today,  Foreign Policy magazine, and Foreign Affairs magazine, on a variety of international and domestic topics. He was the co-author of Andrew Young: The Path to History (1973), which chronicled how Andrew Young became for the first African American to win a congressional seat in the Deep South since Reconstruction following the Civil War.

His book President Carter: The White House Years (2018, 2020) is a definitive history of the Carter administration, which has been favorably reviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Review, National Interest, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Moment Magazine, and many other publications. His most recent book is The Art of Diplomacy: How American Negotiators Reached Historic Agreements That Changed the World (20240,which has also won accolades from a variety of publications.

Ambassador Eizenstat grew up in Atlanta and was educated in its  public schools. He was All-City and Honorable Mention All-American (Dell Sports Magazine) in basketball.  He is a Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was inducted into the Order of the Old Well and Golden Fleece Society, and has an endowed chair in his name, The Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat Chair of Modern Jewish History. He is a graduate  of Harvard Law School. He was  married for 45 years to the late Frances Eizenstat and has two sons, eight grandchildren, and one great-grandson.

Photo of Holly Fechner Holly Fechner

Holly Fechner advises clients on complex public policy matters that combine legal and political opportunities and risks. She leads teams that represent companies, entities, and organizations in significant policy and regulatory matters before Congress and the Executive Branch.

She is a co-chair of…

Holly Fechner advises clients on complex public policy matters that combine legal and political opportunities and risks. She leads teams that represent companies, entities, and organizations in significant policy and regulatory matters before Congress and the Executive Branch.

She is a co-chair of the Covington’s Technology Industry Group and a member of the Covington Political Action Committee board of directors.

Holly works with clients to:

  • Develop compelling public policy strategies
  • Research law and draft legislation and policy
  • Draft testimony, comments, fact sheets, letters and other documents
  • Advocate before Congress and the Executive Branch
  • Form and manage coalitions
  • Develop communications strategies

She is the Executive Director of Invent Together and a visiting lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She serves on the board of directors of the American Constitution Society.

Holly served as Policy Director for Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Chief Labor and Pensions Counsel for the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.

She received The American Lawyer, “Dealmaker of the Year” award in 2019. The Hill named her a “Top Lobbyist” from 2013 to the present, and she has been ranked by Chambers USAAmerica’s Leading Business Lawyers from 2012 to the present. One client noted to Chambers: “Holly is an exceptional attorney who excels in government relations and policy discussions. She has an incisive analytical skill set which gives her the capability of understanding extremely complex legal and institutional matters.” According to another client surveyed by Chambers, “Holly is incredibly intelligent, effective and responsive. She also leads the team in a way that brings out everyone’s best work.”

Photo of Marty Hansen Marty Hansen

Martin Hansen has over two decades of experience representing some of the world’s leading innovative companies in the internet, IT, e-commerce, and life sciences sectors on a broad range of regulatory, intellectual property, and competition issues, including related to artificial intelligence. Martin has…

Martin Hansen has over two decades of experience representing some of the world’s leading innovative companies in the internet, IT, e-commerce, and life sciences sectors on a broad range of regulatory, intellectual property, and competition issues, including related to artificial intelligence. Martin has extensive experience in advising clients on matters arising under EU and U.S. law, UK law, the World Trade Organization agreements, and other trade agreements.

Photo of Lisa Peets Lisa Peets

Lisa Peets is co-chair of the firm’s Technology and Communications Regulation Practice Group and a member of the firm’s global Management Committee. Lisa divides her time between London and Brussels, and her practice encompasses regulatory compliance and investigations alongside legislative advocacy. For more…

Lisa Peets is co-chair of the firm’s Technology and Communications Regulation Practice Group and a member of the firm’s global Management Committee. Lisa divides her time between London and Brussels, and her practice encompasses regulatory compliance and investigations alongside legislative advocacy. For more than two decades, she has worked closely with many of the world’s best-known technology companies.

Lisa counsels clients on a range of EU and UK legal frameworks affecting technology providers, including data protection, content moderation, artificial intelligence, platform regulation, copyright, e-commerce and consumer protection, and the rapidly expanding universe of additional rules applicable to technology, data and online services.

Lisa also supports Covington’s disputes team in litigation involving technology providers.

According to Chambers UK (2024 edition), “Lisa provides an excellent service and familiarity with client needs.”

Photo of Bart Szewczyk Bart Szewczyk

Having served in senior advisory positions in the U.S. government, Bart Szewczyk advises on European and global public policy, particularly on technology, economic sanctions and asset seizure, trade and foreign investment, business and human rights, and environmental, social, and governance issues, as well…

Having served in senior advisory positions in the U.S. government, Bart Szewczyk advises on European and global public policy, particularly on technology, economic sanctions and asset seizure, trade and foreign investment, business and human rights, and environmental, social, and governance issues, as well as conducts international arbitration. He also teaches grand strategy as an Adjunct Professor at Sciences Po in Paris and is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

Bart recently worked as Advisor on Global Affairs at the European Commission’s think-tank, where he covered a wide range of foreign policy issues, including international order, defense, geoeconomics, transatlantic relations, Russia and Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa, and China and Asia. Previously, between 2014 and 2017, he served as Member of Secretary John Kerry’s Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State, where he covered Europe, Eurasia, and global economic affairs. From 2016 to 2017, he also concurrently served as Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, where he worked on refugee policy. He joined the U.S. government from teaching at Columbia Law School, as one of two academics selected nationwide for the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. He has also consulted for the World Bank and Rasmussen Global.

Prior to government, Bart was an Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School, where he worked on international law and U.S. foreign relations law. Before academia, he taught international law and international organizations at George Washington University Law School, and served as a visiting fellow at the EU Institute for Security Studies. He also clerked at the International Court of Justice for Judges Peter Tomka and Christopher Greenwood and at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for the late Judge Leonard Garth.

Bart holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge University where he studied as a Gates Scholar, a J.D. from Yale Law School, an M.P.A. from Princeton University, and a B.S. in economics (summa cum laude) from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Harvard International Law Journal, Columbia Journal of European Law, American Journal of International Law, George Washington Law Review, Survival, and elsewhere. He is the author of three books: Europe’s Grand Strategy: Navigating a New World Order (Palgrave Macmillan 2021); with David McKean, Partners of First Resort: America, Europe, and the Future of the West (Brookings Institution Press 2021); and European Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and Power (Routledge 2021).