DEAR SIR: Last Wednesday afternoon, Phil Hogan completed one of his last acts as Trade Commissioner. He participated in a EU-US panel focused on trade, investment and broader economic and digital issues. He had been asked to participate at the event, which was co-organised by the EU delegation in Washington and the International Republican Institute. A couple of weeks earlier, he participated in a similar event at the Democratic Convention. Other panellists included Brad Smith, president of Microsoft and former US Senator Kelly Ayotte.

Hogan used the opportunity to convey the importance Europe attaches to a strong and mutually beneficial transatlantic relationship. He stressed that EU and US interests continue to overlap much more than they diverge. The deal that Hogan had cut with the US Trade Representative, Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, the previous Friday, August 21, will see a package of tariff reductions that increases market access for hundreds of millions of dollars in US and EU exports. These tariff reductions are the first US-EU negotiated reductions in duties in more than two decades. Lighthizer and Hogan were in constant contact during the three weeks Hogan was in Ireland, which ultimately delivered a deal.

Ambassador Lighthizer’s middle name is Emmet – he is named after Irish patriot Robert Emmet. At Hogan and Lighthizer’s first meeting in Washington back in January, Hogan presented the Ambassador with a book on Robert Emmet, which captured the moment a strong relationship started between the two men. It is fitting that Hogan’s last act was effectively the first act in the development of a new relationship between the EU and the US. This is just one example of Hogan’s achievements during his six years working as a European Commissioner. Only those who dare to fail can ever achieve.