De Global Entrepreneurship Summit laat de verschillen zien tussen de VS en Europa over zakendoen, de rol van de overheid en maatschappelijke verantwoordelijkheid.
Mike Pompeo, minister van Buitenlandse Zaken van de VS in zijn openingstoespraak:
“I want to spend a few minutes today talking about the principles that foster entrepreneurship in any society. How it is that government can get out of the way, so you can all do what it is you do that makes families here in the Netherlands and families in the United States thrive and grow.”
“Government has to stop strangling business,” Pompeo added later, before going on to boast about how the Trump administration had “slashed unnecessary regulations” and “reduced corporate taxes.”
Premier Mark Rutte vervolgens:
“Given the major challenges the world faces — climate change, food production, connectivity, energy and health — it’s crystal clear that society is your next big client. It’s clear that sustainability is by far the biggest business case of our time. And that innovation is key.”
VS-Ambassadeur Pete Hoekstra:
“As we developed nine months ago the Dutch were pushing much more about social good, solving global challenges and all of those type of things, and we’re much more talking about creating the environment for entrepreneurship, how important entrepreneurs are and all those kinds of things,”
Een van de meest gestelde vragen op het forum van de ondernemers was of de VS goede relaties met de EU zal blijven onderhouden. Hoekstra:
"Of course, we are still committed to the EU.”
