Against the backdrop of strong interest in the 2024 US elections, the AmerikaHaus NRW hosted a hybrid panel discussion on “The Race for the White House and the Consequences for Germany and Europe” on September 17, 2024. In Solingen, Jürgen Hardt, Member of the German Bundestag and former Coordinator for Transatlantic Relations at the Federal Foreign Office, and Dr. Andrew Denison, Director of Transatlantic Networks, were joined virtually by Annett Meiritz, US Correspondent for Handelsblatt. The discussion was moderated by AmerikaHaus NRW Director Viktoria Harbecke.

Although the race for the White House had fundamentally changed over the summer, the panel explained that former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris were extremely close in the polls and there was no clear frontrunner at this point. They agreed that two topics were top of mind for voters, namely the economy and immigration. Both Ms. Meiritz, who has traveled widely across the country in her role as US correspondent, and Dr. Denison, who hails from Wyoming, shared first-hand insights from their conversations with Americans of all walks of life. They illustrated to the audience how hard many had been hit by inflation and how deep general frustration ran.

With respect to the election’s transatlantic implications, the panel stressed that a shift in priorities was imminent. Mr. Hardt underlined that Germany and Europe had to invest more in their own defense as the next US administration, whether it be led by Trump or Harris, would likely focus its foreign policy on the competition with China. Dr. Denison added that Germany and the EU should formulate their own strategic interests and use these as a basis for future cooperation with the US. The audience made ample use of the opportunity to ask questions, both regarding the election process, the candidates’ different priorities, and parallels to current developments in Germany. The event thus gave participants a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the 2024 presidential election campaigns and the top issues being negotiated. It also served as a reminder that Germany and Europe had their own homework to do, no matter who would win the race for the White House.

This event was organized in cooperation with the Bergische Volkshochschule Solingen/Wuppertal and the Katholisches Bildungswerk Wuppertal/Solingen/Remscheid. It was conducted in a hybrid format to enable wide participation.