Published
September 25, 2026
The most important conversations during United Nations’ (UN) General Assembly (UNGA) week increasingly happen beyond the UN itself. For American businesses, that makes showing up—and having the right networks—more important than ever.
It rained. Traffic barely moved. Motorcades owned the streets of Manhattan.
And once a year during UNGA in New York, many of the world’s most consequential political and business leaders were concentrated within a few dozen blocks of one another.
The UNGA speeches matter. They tell us how global governments want the world to understand their priorities and how leaders see the challenges ahead.
But for American businesses, some of the most consequential conversations happen around those speeches: in CEO roundtables and bilateral meetings, at the stock exchanges, hotel conference rooms and corporate boardrooms, breakfasts and dinners, and sometimes hurried conversations between events.
Why We Were Here
The U.S. Chamber’s purpose during UNGA is straightforward: to make sure American business has a seat at the table when decisions affecting the global economy are being discussed.
Throughout the week, our International Affairs team brought U.S. companies into direct conversation with presidents, prime ministers, cabinet officials, ambassadors, and business leaders from virtually every region of the world.
After a week of conversations spanning Türkiye and Ukraine, Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and beyond, several themes stood out.
These conversations also set the stage for what comes next. As the U.S. Chamber prepares to host the B20 USA Summit this November in Washington, D.C. — the first time this summit will be held in the United States — the themes that emerged at UNGA will be front and center.
Read about our UNGA engagements
A More Fragmented World Is Also a More Connected One
We are living through a geopolitical paradox.
The international environment is increasingly fragmented. Conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, strategic competition, economic security concerns, technological change, and debates over energy and supply chains are reshaping the environment in which companies operate.
Yet countries and companies cannot simply retreat from one another.
Capital crosses borders, supply chains span continents, and AI, energy security, and reconstruction all require cross-border investment, financing, and expertise. The more complicated the world becomes, the more valuable trusted connections become.
The Rise of the “Super-Connectors”
One of the most interesting dynamics in New York was the growing importance of countries that can operate across traditional geopolitical lines.
Increasingly, middle and emerging powers are building relationships across regions, engaging simultaneously with major economies and bringing their business communities into those relationships.
The lesson is broader than any one country: in today’s global economy, influence increasingly comes not only from the size of an economy or military, but from the strength of a country’s networks and its ability to connect them.
Businesses understand this instinctively. Governments increasingly do too.
Showing Up Is Competitive Strategy
Countries are competing for investment, technology, talent, tourism, supply-chain opportunities, and partnerships. The leaders who came to New York with a clear economic proposition—and who actively engaged the private sector—understood that reality.
For business, visibility alone is obviously not enough. Policies, institutions, market conditions, and the rule of law ultimately determine whether investment happens.
But access matters. Relationships matter. In today’s crowded global marketplace, showing up has become part of economic strategy.
Business Is Increasingly Central to Global Affairs
Perhaps the clearest takeaway from the week was how quickly geopolitical conversations become economic ones.
Governments establish frameworks and set policy. Businesses invest capital, employ people, build infrastructure, develop technologies, and create the commercial relationships that sustain economic ties over decades.
That is why engagement between governments and the private sector has become increasingly important—and why the U.S. Chamber’s role as a convener matters.
It is also why the U.S. Chamber's hosting of the B20 Summit this November in Washington, D.C. is so significant. For the first time, the world's leading business forum will convene on American soil — bringing together CEOs, ministers, and policymakers to translate the kinds of conversations that defined UNGA week into concrete, actionable policy recommendations.
The Chamber’s Global Network Is an Asset for Our Members
This week also reinforced something I have come to appreciate even more since joining the U.S. Chamber: the extraordinary global infrastructure available to our members.
The Chamber’s International Affairs Division works across every major region of the world, supported by country-specific councils and programs and a federation that includes over 130 American Chambers of Commerce in more than 190 countries.
UNGA offers an unusual concentration of that work in one city over one week. But the engagement does not begin or end in New York.
Turning Global Engagement Into Growth
I arrived at UNGA asking how we turn global engagement into opportunity and growth for our members and the American economy.
But after this week, I would sharpen the question further:
In an increasingly fragmented world, who can still connect the dots?
Countries that can connect markets will matter. Companies that can connect opportunities will grow. And institutions capable of building trusted bridges across regions, sectors, and governments will become even more valuable.
That is why the U.S. Chamber was at UNGA in New York, to use one of the world’s greatest concentrations of political and economic leadership to advance the interests of our members, strengthen commercial relationships, open doors for American companies, and ensure that the voice of American business is part of the conversations shaping the global economy.
That is the connective tissue our International Affairs team works to provide—not just during one extraordinary week in New York, but throughout the year and around the world.
And after one very busy, very crowded, and very consequential week, I’m heading back to Washington even more convinced of the value of that mission.
Now, if someone could just do something about the traffic.
About the author
Joshua Walker
Joshua W. Walker, Ph.D., chief international affairs officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, leads global policy, trade, investment, and international engagement efforts, working with business leaders, policymakers, and partners around the world to advance American competitiveness and strengthen international economic relationships.
