Duvi Honig, Founder / CEO, Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce; Mark Jaffe, President, Greater New York Chamber of Commerce. Photo: Duvi Honig.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Suzanne P. Clark called on global business leaders Tuesday to turn the B20 USA Summit's growth agenda into practical action, as executives and policymakers in Washington confronted investment barriers, shifting supply chains and rising demand for reliable energy.
The November 9-11 gathering, hosted by the U.S. Chamber at Washington's Wharf District, is the first B20 summit held in the United States. Organizers welcomed nearly 5,000 delegates at Monday's opening. The B20 is the business counterpart of the G20, bringing private-sector recommendations into the debate over the global economy.
According to the U.S. Chamber, the gathering brings together leaders from economies representing approximately 85% of global GDP and 75% of global trade. More than 90 executives and government officials are scheduled to speak across the program at The Anthem and other venues in Washington's Wharf District.
Opening Tuesday's plenary, Clark framed growth as a responsibility to the next generation, urging participants to work with governments to remove barriers to investment and opportunity.
"As we look to give hope to the next generation, growth is an imperative. And it is a choice," Clark said.
Clark pointed to the B20 Leaders' Statement's four priorities: economic growth, innovation, trade and energy. She called on attendees to identify a policy barrier holding back opportunity, work with their governments to remove it and choose an investment or partnership they could move forward.
Former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, serving as B20 USA Sherpa, emphasized the importance of durable tax and research-and-development policy for business investment. He identified modernizing rules-based trade as the recommendation with the greatest potential impact on the global economy.
"If everything's a priority, nothing's a priority," Brady said of the decision to concentrate the B20's work on four policy areas.
The administration's message also centered on private enterprise. Jim Goyer, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump and director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, told the summit that individuals, rather than the state, should drive investment, business formation and job creation.
"It is not the state that should be the sole author of capital or the ultimate driver of decisions," Goyer said.
For corporate leaders, the policy debate reflected changes already reshaping their operations. UPS CEO Carol B. Tomé described customers changing where they manufacture, source and sell, with supply chains becoming more diversified and regional. She pointed to health care logistics, including clinical trials and GLP-1 medicines, as a growth opportunity.
Dow Executive Chairman Jim Fitterling discussed the role of reliable energy in industrial growth, pointing to small modular nuclear reactors as a potential source of power and steam for factories and data centers.
That discussion feeds into a wider B20 energy agenda: faster permitting, stronger infrastructure, cross-border investment and a workforce able to meet rising electricity demand from AI and industry. The energy task force, chaired by GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik, calls for secure, affordable and abundant power rather than a single energy model for every country.
Bombardier President and CEO Éric Martel said supply-chain limits were holding back aircraft production. He told the summit the company had produced 160 jets this year and that the market could absorb 200, but production had been slowed by the supply chain. He argued that aerospace should remain protected from tariffs, warning that new duties would add pressure to an industry already facing those constraints.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt discussed how states compete for foreign investment. Moore argued that support for capitalism depends on people seeing its benefits, while Stitt called for fewer government barriers and less intervention in choosing business winners and losers.
Tuesday's published program carried the growth debate into technology, energy and finance. It listed Docusign CEO Allan Thygesen, Bayer Chief Information and Digital Officer Bijoy Sagar, Visa Latin America and Caribbean Chairman Eduardo Coello and Forum AI CEO Campbell Brown for a discussion of opportunity amid uncertainty. Allstate CEO Tom Wilson was listed for a separate conversation on trust.
The energy program listed Shell USA President Colette Hirstius, Halliburton CEO Jeff Miller and Pure Lithium Founder and CEO Emilie Bodoin. A later finance panel was scheduled to bring together Scotiabank CEO Scott Thomson, Standard Chartered executive Mandy DeFilippo and Mastercard Chief Administrative Officer Richard Verma to examine the next drivers of growth.
Beyond the main stage, the U.S. Chamber's international team organized 20 additional meetings with more than 1,000 confirmed guests, extending the summit's discussions to investment and business ties across international markets.
Those conversations also included chamber-to-chamber ties. During the summit, Clark met with Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce Founder / CEO Duvi Honig and Greater New York Chamber of Commerce President Mark Jaffe to discuss relationships among chambers and opportunities for economic cooperation.
Honig also met with Jennifer Miel, the U.S. Chamber's vice president for Middle East, Central Asia and Türkiye, to discuss possible collaborations, including opportunities involving Israel.
The conversations included possible collaboration around the JBiz Economic Summit & Expo, scheduled for March 31, 2027, at Harrah's Waterfront Conference Center in Atlantic City.
The B20 summit continues through Wednesday, November 11, with further discussions on investment, energy, manufacturing and business leadership. Its recommendations are intended to inform the broader G20 economic agenda; the meetings do not themselves establish government policy or guarantee investment deals.
JBizNews Desk | Washington, D.C.
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