The United States and Europe are grappling with the implications of the rise of Asia and how this historical trend will impact the spectrum of foreign policy, economic, and domestic challenges facing the transatlantic allies. Policymakers in Washington, Brussels, and national European capitals face problems and issues that can no longer be successfully addressed without involving key Asian powers, as China and India join Japan as Asian states with global reach. Similarly, the major Asian powers have an interest in deepening their connection to the transatlantic world in ways that go beyond traditional close bilateral ties with the United States and Europe. The growing focus on Asia also places pressure on the primacy of transatlantic ties. The EU, in its efforts to lift its arms embargo on China, highlighted potential risks to transatlantic relations.

This has been replicated on the U.S. side with talk of a shift from a transatlantic to a transpacific century and recent debates about a United States-China "G2". The gap between the strategic responsibilities that the United States has in Asia and what many believe to be a Europe without a strategic approach to the region could lead to transatlantic divisions in the years ahead. Others argue that it is essential for Europe and the United States to work together in order to retain power if liberal values are going to be defended. But many of the most important trends are being driven out of the region itself. The rivalries between the major powers in Asia, their strategies within the region, and how they position themselves vis-à-vis the United States and the West as a whole, will do much to shape the geopolitical order in the coming decades. There are also more immediate challenges for Europe and the United States to grapple with, from the situation in Pakistan to the role of the world's second- and third-largest economies in the global financial crisis.