Potential for Transatlantic Rifts : Converging or Diverging

The United States and European nations extoll the closeness of their common interests and values. And while events over past decades have indeed shown them to be very closely aligned, on some important issues there do appear to be growing divergences with regard to their interests, objectives, and the methodology to achieve them.

Increasingly there are policy areas that could come to divide the United States and many European states, and weaken their ability to take action together.

Understanding how to deal with such contingencies in advance would allow policymakers to avoid unfortunate misunderstandings and miscalculations and could lead to more collaborative actions that result in greater impact. The objective of this report is to establish greater understanding and transparency between the United States and the major European states over whether the relationships are converging or diverging and whether this is structural or cyclical.

Based on an understanding of the factors leading to any divergence, we will identify possible approaches that would help manage any differences.