Standing With Our Economies
A Statement from BritishAmerican Business on the COVID-19 Crisis
7 April 2020
Contact: Dominic Parker, Communications Manager dparker@babinc.org | 020 7290 9882 | +44 7500 115 352
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented moment for the transatlantic business community that we are proud to represent. This is a crisis that is impacting almost every aspect of our lives. The pandemic, and our response to it will change our businesses, economies, and the way we live and work forever.
This is a time where decisive and impactful government and business action are needed. It is a time where businesses, large and small, and governments must work hand in hand to help limit and control the impact of this crisis, help manage it, and help overcome it. It is a time where we need to stand together, more than ever before, in the interest of our economies, businesses, workers, and citizens.
We recognise that fighting and overcoming COVID-19 is the number one public policy priority. This is about doing everything needed to protect our people and to help save lives.
We welcome efforts made by the UK and US governments to stabilise our economies, in particular measures taken to keep business financially stable, tailored support for smaller businesses and income replacement schemes that help avoid layoffs.
We know these measures may only be the start.
We call on the UK and US governments to monitor and review existing measures to assess their efficacy and we welcome specific initiatives for industries hit the hardest.
We urge the UK and US governments to help ensure that measures can be implemented efficiently and with minimal bureaucracy so all businesses in need can take advantage of these measures as quickly as possible.
We call on the UK and US governments to lead international collaboration and cooperation as a way to combine efforts and strengths, and as a signal of leadership.
We caution against measures that artificially impede trade and investment flows and cooperation, where avoidable.
We look forward to building on the momentum for a comprehensive UK-US Free Trade Agreement once the crisis is over as a manifestation of the importance of trade and investment for our economies and local communities.
We fully embrace the role business can, and needs to play in supporting governments, businesses, workers, and communities in this time.
We are proud of, and grateful for the work many of our transatlantic businesses do to help develop solutions to this crisis, to offer resources and services, support other businesses, support the vulnerable, and to keep our economies running.
We stand ready to work with the UK and US governments on the measures that will be needed to restart our economies and to efficiently manage the return of the workforce to business and manufacturing, once the health crisis has subsided.
We stand with our economies.
BritishAmerican Business
About BritishAmerican Business
BritishAmerican Business is the leading transatlantic trade association created as a result of the merger between the British-American Chamber of Commerce in the US and the American Chamber of Commerce in the UK.
We are committed to strengthening the economic corridor between the United States and the United Kingdom by supporting policies and actions that protect and enhance the environment for transatlantic trade and investment on behalf of our members.
We convene and serve a growing network of companies and business leaders through networking opportunities, bespoke programming and marketing platforms.
We actively promote trade and investment and support those who make the transatlantic corridor part of their business growth ambition.
For more information, please visit www.babinc.org[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
