In mid-August, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Czechia, Slovenia, Austria and Poland signed a new defence agreement with Poland that will see American troops redeployed from Germany. He also seems to have brought Central European governments on board in the US’ diplomatic offensive against Chinese influence, specifically Chinese tech giant Huawei’s involvement in 5G networks.

The next several months are also challenging to the US: the COVID-19 pandemic resulting the economy seeing a 9.5 per cent slump in the second quarter following a 1.3 per cent drop in the first, nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd and the upcoming presidential election, to name just a few.

Andrew Wrobel speaks with Tyson Barker, Deputy Executive Director and Fellow at Aspen Institute Germany, about the US relations with emerging Europe and the post-election scenarios, ahead of the Emerging Europe and the United States: Towards 2030 conference scheduled to take place on August 27. For more info about the debate, go to emerging-europe.com/towards-2030/