“It’s America first, it’s not America alone”

John Arrigo was appointed US Ambassador to Portugal by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in September last year. In his first interview on economic issues, he gives his assurance that one of the priorities of his term of office is to continue to improve relations between the two countries. He believes that businesses will adjust to higher customs duties and sees increased defence spending as an opportunity for US companies. He already has a target: to sell F-35 fighter jets.

“One of our top priorities is to continue the strong relationship we have with Portugal”, John Arrigo assures us. “We need to continue these relationships and make them even better than they were. And I think that when we do that, they will realise that it is America first, but it is not America alone”, says the ambassador in a joint interview with the president of AmCham Portugal, António Martins da Costa, for Transatlantic Talks, a new podcast from ECO in partnership with the American Chamber of Commerce in Portugal, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

The ambassador has already met with the Portuguese Prime Minister. “What a fantastic lunch we had together. I think we are very much on the same page”, he reports.

“We are Portugal’s largest trading partner outside the European Union. And our direct investment has increased by 70% over the last seven years, reaching around $16.5 billion”, explains John Arrigo. Even so, the new customs tariffs approved by the US President in April last year have weighed heavily on trade between the two countries, with exports of goods to the United States falling by 13% in 2025.

Asked about the impact of tariffs, the US ambassador to Portugal, who for more than 30 years owned and managed an automotive retail group, says that entrepreneurs will adapt. “Once these entrepreneurs understand the rules of the game, which is trade, it’s fine, they’re smart. They’ll make the adjustments, just as I did in my business for years.”

“We would like there to be no tariffs on either side, right? But the fact is that this will probably never happen”, he said. The podcast was recorded before the Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate the so-called “reciprocal tariffs” and Donald Trump’s announcement of a 10% global tariff using other legal instruments.

“I think we have ups and downs in our relationship. That’s normal between two partners”, says António Martins da Costa, president of Amcham Portugal, regarding the increase in customs duties. But, like John Arrigo, he believes that “businesspeople know how to adapt”. “They set different prices for their products, segment their markets differently, try to organise different partnerships, and that’s what’s happening now”, he says.

Reducing the trade deficit with Portugal

The former executive director of EDP pointed out that “the trade balance between the two countries is currently quite favourable to Portugal”, especially “in terms of services, because the service sector is tourism, which is booming”. “With regard to goods, the difference is decreasing. It is still favourable to Portugal, but it is beginning to narrow”, adds António Martins da Cruz.

John Arrigo, who was once a car salesman, lawyer and is now a ‘politician’, wants that gap to be even smaller. “The figures I have show that our [trade] deficit with Portugal has fallen by 4%. Naturally, I want to see if we can make it a little more balanced. I think we had a deficit of $3.8 billion before I got here.”

The ambassador also rejected the idea that geopolitical tensions between the US and the European Union, particularly American claims on Greenland, are undermining business confidence. Like the White House, he frames the issue as one of security. “I think security is very, very important. Business is very important. But I believe the two things are separate.”

António Martins da Costa agrees: “Businesspeople have opinions about political decisions. Each of us, as good citizens, has our opinion about everything. But our opinions are one thing, and how we adjust our business models to new circumstances is another. The important thing is to know what the rules are.”

Selling American F-35 fighter jets to Portugal

The US ambassador sees technology and data centres as one of the sectors that is already attracting a lot of American investment, citing Start Campus in Sines as an example.

Another area that is arousing a lot of interest is defence. “Portugal is to be congratulated for having reached 2% of its GDP in defence spending this year”, praises John Arrigo, who has a clear target.

“We are eager to help Portugal with its [defence] spending. The first item on the list is the ageing F-16 fleet. They know they have an ageing F-16 fleet, and we believe that the best partner is once again the US, and Lockheed Martin’s F-35 is the way forward”, argues the ambassador.

“Lockheed Martin has the capacity to manufacture them and deliver them on time. So I can’t wait. An exciting part of what I do is closing that deal”, says John Arrigo.

The president of AmCham Portugal also notes increased interest: “We are seeing more and more American investors in the defence, aerospace and security sectors coming here and establishing partnerships or even commercial agreements with Portuguese companies. This means that this is one of the most important sectors for business development in Portugal and our friends in the US are very interested in it.” António Martins da Costa also mentions a “third area, which is biotechnology”.

A forum to cut red tape and facilitate business

The US Embassy in Portugal is launching the US-Portugal CEO Forum. The goal is to “facilitate business activity in Portugal”, explains John Arrigo, bringing together business leaders and representatives of the Portuguese and American governments. “We will sit down and discuss and debate how it will be easier for us to do business. And not just discuss the issue, but make decisions and get things done”, he adds.

One of the missions will be to “reduce bureaucracy”. The idea behind the forum is also to enable the sharing of experiences. John Arrigo gives the example of Sword Health, the Portuguese unicorn in the health sector. “They found a way to do things a little more easily” and can “take their best business practices to companies in the same sector”, says the ambassador. “It’s a $4 billion company. They know what they’re doing and it worked, right?”

António Martins da Costa cites a barometer conducted by PwC among Amcham members, which points to market competitiveness as the primary concern of managers, followed by bureaucracy and excessive regulation – “it takes a lot of effort, money and time to overcome regulatory barriers.”

The third issue that entrepreneurs complain about most is “the difficulty in finding the right talent”. The president of AmCham Portugal points out that “there are talented people who leave university with an excellent education”, but leave the country “because they are better paid in central Europe. We need political measures to retain people here, to make us more attractive”.

John Arrigo has been in Portugal for about three and a half years and already points to one of the main problems in retaining young people: housing. “I’ve seen what it costs to live in Lisbon. (…) These rents are extremely high. So when you take a young, talented person who is trying to start a career and tell them that it’s going to cost them these really high amounts to live where their job is, that’s a problem”, he concludes.