Paul Schonenberg | ©AmCham
Dear AmCham Members, Partners and friends,
This is our first AmCham Newsletter issue after the summer holiday break. Welcome back! We are happy to reconnect with you!
While summer breaks are often relaxing opportunities to recharge our batteries and share happy moments with families and friends, this year has been much more busy with armed conflicts continuing in Ukraine, the Middle East, between India and Pakistan and with the ongoing being accompanied by fierce trade disputes involving the US and its many trade partners.
Europe has also been heavily impacted by all of this and finds itself severely challenged by financial challenges caused by the need to increase defense budgets while coping with the challenges caused by the ongoing tariff disputes. In Luxembourg we face all of this while also trying to deal with the need for pension reforms.
I am confident we here in Luxembourg can sort all of this out, in partnership with our European and US allies. It will not be easy. But I believe our government coalition will make the right decisions during the coming months to protect Luxembourg while also ensuring the continued cohesion and increased strength of NATO, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment partnership which have been the bedrock of our peace and prosperity for many years.
Replacing our normal weekly interview, we are publishing an analysis written by my friend Malte Lohan, the CEO of AmCham EU, the AmCham accredited to the European commission in Brussels which lays out and asks for support for the AmChams of Europe position for improving US trade and investment relations while solving the current tariff arbitration. We in AmCham.lu find this article wisely explains where we are at and what we should do to get where we want to be. We hope you will agree and support this analysis and approach. We welcome your feedback to me at Paul@amcham.lu.
I was especially pleased to attend, on July 9th, an excellent event at the newly reopened Marriott Hotel Alfa, where we were warmly welcomed by our gracious hosts into an atmosphere that was both elegant and inviting; the quality of the renovation is outstanding, blending comfort and sophistication in a way that ensures this venue will once again be a centerpiece of Luxembourg hospitality!
A week ago, I was so pleased with the Expat day event put on by our friends and partners at the Luxembourg Times that I published with comments and photos a short piece in LinkedIn. While I am not and do not plan to become an influencer on social media, I really enjoyed actively participating in this Sunday event. (Please have a look at the photos accompanied by Daniel McKenzie and especially note the photo of me holding the special Limited Cuvée “Trounwiessel” from Domaines Vinsmoselle which will soon be launched in honor of our Prince Guillaume on the occasion of his investiture as the new Grand Duc of Luxembourg and which we will have the honor to serve at our Thanksgiving Gala on 21 November).
In closing, we cannot avoid speaking of the fact that Christian conservative debater and opinion shaper Charlie Kirk was assassinated last week in Utah. He was a 31 years of age American, married with two young children. His life mission was to engage with young people and he was famous for his colleague tours and podcasts. There has been an outpouring of grief and loss in the United States among his many supporters. The US Vice President and his wife repatriated his body to his home state of Arizona and President Trump has announced his posthumous award of the Highest US civilian award, the Medal of Freedom. As this is an important issue for the moment in the USA, we will keep you informed.
Next week, we will return our focus to the pressing local issue of the economy, what is right, what there is to fix… and we will be interested in hearing your thoughts!
Pension reform is also an important issue which most expats are not well acquainted with, but should be. Two weeks from now we will focus our attention on this topic and hope you will find our analysis useful.
I close by extending to you all, your families and your companies my warm best wishes for your continued good health, happiness and success.
Paul Schonenberg
Chairman and CEO
AMCHAM.lu