6/4/2008
Thomas J. Donohue – taking the global business bull by the horns
Following the 2008 AGM, AMCHAM was privileged to welcome Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C., who stopped by Stockholm en route to trade talks in Russia. “Why am I here? To get a couple of good meals before I get to Russia,” he quipped.
But while his speech was tinged with humor, Donohue had many serious messages and gave a rousing talk on international trade and related issues. “I came here to meet business people, and to listen,” he said. “Transatlantic business is the backbone of the global economy. This is a challenging time in our history. And we are totally interdependent.”
Among the issues he covered were business regulation and intellectual property protection - which has been a hot topic in Sweden due to controversy over the Pirate Bay file sharing site. “Intellectual property used to be about watches and perfume [brands]. Now it’s software, entertainment and pharmaceuticals,” he said. Of course, Donohue also had to talk about the dramatic Democratic primaries and the forthcoming US presidential election. “It’s going to be fascinating. But of course, the Chamber is unable to take sides – whoever is elected president, we have to deal with it!”
“And of course we have many, many problems, which must be addressed by the next administration,” he said. “Take infrastructure, for example. We are a $13-14 trillion economy and our infrastructure will absolutely not support economic growth.”
On the question of how to attract US businesses to Sweden, Donohue said that “the business climate has to be right, with human capital available at all levels. It has to be a good place to live, and somewhere people can make a buck. It isn’t rocket science.” In closing, Donohue reiterated the message that “we are all interdependent. We need to understand the relationship between like-minded countries, or groups of countries. The number of hot spots around the world is growing. We need to find out who our friends are, and hang in there together."
Written exclusively for AmCham Sweden by Julie Gunn, Battison & Partners
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