Letter from the President and CEO

In business, every year brings its changes—but 2025 brought more than most.

New leadership in Washington, a volatile global trade environment, sticky inflation, and the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence meant rising complexity for businesses. It is in times like these that the U.S. Chamber’s leadership matters most—and we delivered.

Throughout 2025, we focused relentlessly on the conditions that enable economic growth, because growth determines whether businesses invest and hire, communities thrive, and America remains the world’s economic leader. To that end, we successfully advocated for the permanent extension of pro-growth tax provisions and the rollback of burdensome regulations. We pushed back against policies that slow investment, raise costs, and limit opportunity—including fighting in the courts and in state houses across the country. And we took on the trial bar’s frivolous lawsuits that undermine our justice system and drive up prices for American families.

Kicking off the year with our State of American Business event in Dallas, we underscored a truth that guided our approach throughout the year: all business is local. Decisions in Washington quickly land on the doorsteps of business owners in every community, impacting their ability to solve problems for their neighbors. That is why we expanded our engagement with state and local chambers and elevated the voice of small businesses in key policy debates.

Many of those debates centered around America’s place in the world. We highlighted the simple fact that businesses cannot succeed locally if they lack access to global markets. We confronted the whipsaw of tariff policies and defended U.S. interests in global regulatory debates, while also expanding access to key markets from Latin America to Asia. We closed the year by assuming leadership of the B20—a key forum for American businesses to advance deeper economic ties around the world.

Underpinning our work is the same conviction that has always guided the Chamber: that America’s free enterprise system is the strongest engine for opportunity and upward mobility ever created. In 2025, we expanded our New Fight for Free Enterprise—convening like-minded advocates, building coalitions of business leaders across the country, and working to counter anti-business narratives with compelling stories and indisputable facts.

Of course, all of our work depends on the strength of the Chamber itself. We further modernized operations; invested in talent and technology; and fostered our team’s use of AI to boost productivity, save money, and spend more time serving our members.

As a result of all of this, we saw robust member engagement, record renewal rates, and strong, sustainable growth. We couldn’t be more grateful for your trust in us. It will serve as a powerful foundation for what comes next.

As we enter 2026, our nation’s 250th year, America has an opportunity to look beyond the immediate moment and reflect on the kind of nation we want to be going forward. The policies we choose and principles we defend will determine whether free enterprise will continue to thrive in America and shape the world.

The Chamber is needed in this moment, and we are ready.  Thank you for your partnership.

Sincerely,

Suzanne P. Clark

President and CEO
U.S. Chamber of Commerce