Ibec engagements in New York & Washington on key economic and trade priorities for Irish business

The latest CEO Update to Ibec membership from Danny McCoy

Dear member,

Last week I was delighted to join an Ibec delegation led by our President Frank Gleeson to New York and Washington DC. We engaged with US business and political stakeholders across St Patrick’s week on the key economic and trade priorities for Irish business. In New York we met privately with Congressman Richard Neal, Chair of the influential House Ways and Means Committee. Chairman Neal also attended the Ireland Inc event at the New York Stock Exchange where we discussed the challenges and opportunities for the island of Ireland with business leaders before ringing the NYSE opening trading bell.

In Washington DC we met with administrative, political and business leaders across a series of events and meetings. Our key bilateral meetings included the Department of Commerce; a US Trade Representative delegation led by Ambassador Jayme White; the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. Ibec was also delighted to host a dinner event for over 100 Irish and US business and political stakeholders, which provided an excellent opportunity to directly inform an influential US audience of developments in the Irish economy and to discuss the priorities of our recently launched Ireland: Towards a Model of Sustainable Substance campaign as well as launch our Ibec Global Brand.

My key takeaways from the series of discussions and engagements included:

• The war in Ukraine and the geopolitical uncertainty it is driving, is accentuating the significance of positive transatlantic political and economic relationships. More than ever, the US and EU must look to further strengthen trade and economic ties.
• US business is facing an unprecedented scale of disruption across supply chains and the related inflationary pressures which have been intensified by the war
• The ‘great resignation’ is a very real phenomenon for US business and is significantly disrupting business planning and delivery. Reduced labour market participation is a major challenge in the US and is in stark contrast to the increased participation levels that Ireland has witnessed post-Covid.
• US stakeholders are highly engaged and interested in all aspects of the all-island economy. We had extensive discussions on the functioning of the Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol and interest levels will grow further as we head towards the 25^th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in 2023.

The US engagements provided an important platform for us to represent the priorities of Irish business, to reconnect with key stakeholders following Covid disruptions and to set out the priorities of our Ibec Global initiative. We will host an event in Brussels on Tuesday 22^nd to reconnect with our EU stakeholders on the same agenda. You will be able to watch the live stream of this event from 4pm tomorrow via the link below.link.

As ever, please do let me know if you would like to follow-up on any of these issues or other developments impacting your business.

Regards,

Danny McCoy

CEO

Ibec