How can the global business community unlock the next era of global growth?
That question is at the center of today’s conversations at the B20 USA Summit in Washington, DC, where some of the world’s most influential business executives and policymakers are examining the opportunities and challenges shaping the global economy.
As the first B20 Summit hosted in the United States, the gathering is bringing together leaders from across industries and international markets to advance practical solutions, encourage investment, and strengthen the conditions for businesses to grow and compete.
Today’s plenary sessions will explore the forces driving global economic growth, from investment and energy security to technological innovation, financial markets and the global business environment.
Suzanne Clark: Growth is a Choice
During keynote remarks, U.S. Chamber CEO Suzanne Clark framed stronger growth as a responsibility to the next generation. She called on global business leaders to raise their ambitions and work with governments to create a future where young people have the opportunity to succeed.
"As we look to give hope to the next generation, growth is an imperative. And it is a choice," Clark said.
Clark illustrated the stakes through the future of a young girl in Argentina, where she said reforms to regulation, taxes, and trade have sharply cut inflation and poverty. While work remains, she argued continued growth gives that child opportunities that once seemed out of reach.
"The choices are ours to make—we have to work with our governments, but we never forget that it’s business’s job to deliver," Clark said.
Clark pointed to the four-pillars of the B20 Leader's Statement: economic growth, innovation, trade, and energy, as a practical roadmap for countries to unleash markets and improve lives. She emphasized that these priorities reinforce one another: growth from AI needs energy and skilled people, while business expansion depends on access to markets and the freedom to invest.
"One policy that encourages growth isn't enough. We need to help our government partners put the full agenda of our Leaders' Statement into practice,” Clark said.
She emphasized that choosing growth requires unleashing human potential.
“When nations trust their people to start businesses, to invest in goods, ideas, and trade freely with the world, economies grow and people thrive.”
She concluded with three challenges for attendees:
- Find one policy barrier holding back opportunity in their country and work with their government to help remove it.
- Choose an investment or partnership they can move forward.
- Help an employee or customer see what growth means in their own life.
Setting the Agenda with B20 Sherpa Kevin Brady
After outlining why growth matters for people around the world, Suzanne Clark sat down with B20 Sherpa Kevin Brady to telegraph what policies will help countries reach their full potential for growth.
Brady explained that the U.S. Chamber took a more streamlined approach to the four task forces—Economic Growth, Trade, Energy, and Innovation—to prioritize the issues with the most direct impact on accelerating global growth.
"If everything's a priority, nothing's a priority," said Chairman Brady.
Brady stressed that durable policy, especially around tax and R&D, matters most for driving business investment, and named modernizing rules-based trade as the recommendation with the biggest potential impact on the global economy.
Chairman Brady emphasized that the business community stands ready to work with government to drive growth and opportunity.
"The great next era of economic growth is within our reach. We have the technology, we have the capital, we have the energy, we have the entrepreneurial talent to make that happen. We just need government to remove some of the barriers that are holding us back there, and we want to be partners to do that," said Chairman Brady.
Welcome from the U.S. Administration
The Deputy Assistant to President Donald J. Trump and Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison Jim Goyer outlined the administration’s economic agenda, investment strategies and shared mission to drive global growth and prosperity.
"It is not the state that should be the sole author of capital or the ultimate driver of decisions," said Goyer. "It's the individuals, provided with liberty, that have the opportunity to build, innovate, run businesses and create jobs, and ultimately lead more meaningful lives."
He continued: "Pursuing policies that promote the private sector and enable growth is tantamount to a flourishing society, and we affirm the private sector's critical role in driving broad-based economic growth."
Growth As a Global Imperative
Jim Fitterling, Executive Chairman of Dow and Carol B. Tomé, CEO of UPS discussed what it takes to unlock faster, more durable growth and the investment, energy and supply chains that power it.
“The patterns of growth are changing. Our customers are changing where they manufacture, where they source, and where they sell,” Tomé said. “Supply chains are diversifying. Supply chains are regionalizing. And the growth is being driving by high-value sectors of the economy around the world be it health care, high tech, automation with manufacturing, and automotive.”
Tomé further shared how health care logistics is experiencing significant growth thanks to clinical trials and GLP-1s, estimating the market to be north of $91 billion around the world. “We’ve been leaning into this…It’s a real growth opportunity around the world.”
Session moderator Morgan Brennan, Anchor of Morning Call, CNBC noted a recent energy historic first: federal regulators approved the ability of small modular reactors at a Dow site in Texas. Fitterling called the news a breakthrough.
“In my 40-year career I’ve seen the nuclear industry after Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl almost go extinct, and now we’re back realizing that low-carbon power and reliable 24-7 power nuclear plays a significant role in. And to be able to do this with a safer technology that can deliver that power at the same cost as a gigawatt scale light-water reactor—to do that with a safer technology at 340 megawatts is fantastic.” he said. And I think for behind-the-meter power—power and steam like an industrial user would need or like a hyperscaler would need to power a data center—this is going to be a breakthrough.”
Read Day 1 Highlights
Driving Foreign Direct Investment
Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt shared how states win foreign investment, what international companies need to choose America, and how states and Washington can work together to keep the U.S. the world's top destination for investment.
The governors also discussed the outcomes of the recent midterm elections and how the free enterprise system can be a source of growth and innovation in states and local communities.
“People believe we should have an economy that works for everybody. I believe deeply in the promise of capitalism. I am a capitalist. I think that capitalism has been the engine that has been able to drive both innovation and wealth creation,” Moore said. “The best way for us to fight for capitalism is to make sure that we’re building a system that everyone can the see benefits of.”
“We’re not going to pick and choose—and I think that’s the bad part. We can’t as a government say: We don’t like this, we don’t like that. We need to get government out of our lives and let the free market work,” Stitt said. “You want to talk about what inflationary pressures is? And why gas prices are more expensive? It’s because of the over-permitting and the pendulum swings…We’ve got to get government out of our lives, stop picking winners and losers—it never works.”
Shifting Global Markets
Éric Martel, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier discussed what the global business aviation leader sees in customer demand, how trade policy is reshaping integrated North American supply chains, and where the next growth will come from.
"The supply chain has been the biggest pacer for our industry... we produced 160 jets this year. We could produce 200 jets a year and the market would take it, but we've been slowed down by the supply chain."
In regard to tariffs, he continued: "I remain very optimistic about aerospace staying the same... Aerospace has always been preserved not to have tariffs, which is the right thing, because the consequences of a tariff would be significant for the industry, an industry that already has a lot of tension on the supply chain already."
Future investments and innovation for Bombardier include exploring strategic merger and acquisition opportunities within the defense and service sectors, and R&D efforts like the "EcoJet" project, which utilizes a new wing body shape designed to reduce fuel consumption by 20%.
Check back for more B20 highlights throughout the day.
