U.S. Commercial Diplomacy Through the Lens of the Private Sector

Leading global companies are navigating a new era of risk defined by intensifying geopolitical competition, technological acceleration, climate-related crises, and demographic shifts. In this context, the United States’ strategies and policy instruments for economic statecraft play critical roles in advancing the competitiveness of American firms and development outcomes in other countries that can yield deeper partnerships and mutual prosperity. Recent major reforms to U.S. foreign policy and development institutions have changed the presence, capabilities, and authorities of different instruments of U.S. global development, fostering a related focus upon and elevation of economic statecraft and commercial diplomacy as centerpieces of engagement with countries across the Global South.

This plenary panel will explore how major American companies from different sectors view the current moment of flux, as well as the roles and opportunities for U.S. commercial diplomacy. The discussion will examine what is needed to effectively operate at greater scale and through deeper partnerships in the Global South with support from commercial diplomatic initiatives that work for the U.S. and emerging economies in ways that are durable and strategic over time.

The CSIS Futures Summit is made possible through generous support from Chevron Inc. (Founding sponsor), ADM, Cisco, and the Embassy of Denmark in Washington D.C.