For Ambassador Tom Barrett, taking on his new role in Luxembourg feels like coming full circle.

When we meet him one day after he , he tells us, “There’s this personal tie with my mother in particular… that’s a strange feeling, you know? But a nice feeling.”

His mother grew up in Sturgeon Bay, about 130 miles north of Milwaukee, where Barrett was mayor from 2004-2021--one of the longest-serving big city mayors. She married a young man in 1944 but, six months later, became a 23-year-old widow after he died in the Battle of the Bulge. Later she met Barrett’s father, who had been a US Air Force navigator.

Ambassador Barrett recalls his parents joking about taking an “international trip” on their drive to her hometown, as they passed through Wisconsin towns like Luxemburg and Belgium along the way.

Barrett and his wife, Kris, went to Belgium to visit the Luxembourg American Cultural Society & Center just days after learning of his nomination. “I wanted just to immerse myself in all things Luxembourg at that point.” Later they also visited the Luxembourg Fest that takes place there. “I think some people were surprised to see me because I was the mayor of Milwaukee,” he adds. Of course, later people would realise why, as his became public later that August.

Although still awaiting their personal belongings to arrive to the residence, Barrett says he’s off to a great start. “Everyone I’ve come in contact with has been gracious and welcoming… it’s been a very wonderful transition.”

“A unified voice”

Barrett’s experience as a legislator in the US Congress informed his first meeting with the president of Luxembourg’s parliament, Fernand Etgen (DP), he says. With the Ukraine crisis looming large, foreign minister Jean Asselborn (LSAP) was also among the first politicians the ambassador met with.

“Luxembourg, as a founding member of the EU, and as a strong member of the EU, recognises that the European Union has to act together,” says Barrett. Asselborn last week said that Luxembourg would against Russia. “This is a challenge to multilateralism. All of us have to recognise that it is important to have a unified voice.”  

But keeping channels of communication open is also important, not just with Russia. Luxembourg and the US in January both joined the . The US had withdrawn in 2018 under president Donald Trump.

“It is important, at this time, for us to be fully engaged, particularly in a forum where not everyone is doing what we think they should. But rather than stepping away and criticising from afar, to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty by saying: ‘Okay, this is what we have to do to make it better’.”

But while the US launched a diplomatic boycott against China’s Winter Olympics, Grand Duke Henri attended the games as well as . “Luxembourg prides itself on having good relationships with a lot of countries,” Barrett says, adding Luxembourg nonetheless understands that “democracy and human rights are things that you could never treat as back-burner issues.”

Space cooperation

Under Barrett’s predecessor, Randy Evans, the US and the grand duchy in 2019 signed a space cooperation memorandum of understanding. Roughly a year later, Luxembourg was of the Artemis Accords, also dubbed the moon to Mars mission.

“That was an incredibly thoughtful and far-reaching decision to be one of the original signatories.” Luxembourg, Barrett says, “seems to have a keen eye--whether it’s the EU or Nato or the Artemis Accords--for foreseeing something coming down the road that could be really significant.”

With space the new frontier of defence, Luxembourg has the potential to “establish itself as not only a credible partner, but an active, willing and excited partner.”

Space endeavours--such as an Earth observation satellite run by the military--allow Luxembourg to increase its defence spending, which is still far from a 2% of GDP pledge made by all Nato members in 2014. “Having this relationship strengthens our already strong historic relationship,” Barrett says. “It’s a natural fit for Luxembourg and the United States to work closely together on this.”

The power of small business

When he was nominated to become US ambassador, Barrett reached out to his 27-year-old daughter to get her insights, as she had previously travelled to Luxembourg.  She also suggested he reach out to his nephew, Joe Kirgues who, together with Troy Vosseller, founded the gener8tor acceleration programme which this year has a .

So he called Kirgues. “I said, ‘So, you’re doing some work in Luxembourg? What are your impressions of it?’ And he immediately said, ‘That’s the place you should go to be an ambassador!’”

While he recognises the bilateral foreign investment between the two countries, “It all starts with startups and then scaleups,” he says, adding: “There’s an opportunity here, as there is everywhere, when you look at the incredibly high percentage of jobs that are created globally by small businesses… the bulk of the jobs are small employers.” 

Among Barrett’s many achievements as mayor, he set out to create more affordable housing and helped support a greener Milwaukee, forming a green team and the environmental collaboration office, creating green jobs as a result. The plan for a greener city, in fact, was initiated by a small group of citizens, and Barrett says such change and creativity starts at the local, grassroots level. “Luxembourg has a two-fold advantage as it’s a nation, but one of the other things people would say to me about doing business with Luxembourg is you’ll be amazed at how quickly the government can move.”

He’s also impressed with what Luxembourg has done in this area, from free public transport and more. “Clearly there’s a commitment here to fighting climate change… [Luxembourg] has been such a leader in developing a mechanism to finance green initiatives, which is something that I think is extremely important.” 

As the former mayor of a city of just under 600,000 people, Barrett is now ambassador to a country of just over 600,000 residents. “I'm very excited. Very nervous. And a little sad. Because I also said repeatedly when I left the job as mayor, ‘I'm not running away from this, I'm running towards something’. And I think at this stage of my life, having a new chapter is exciting.”