Barry Gosin, the chief executive of the brokerage Newmark, which has been making waves in Europe, spoke to Paul Norman of CoStar News, and sister publication Business Immo, at the Mipim real estate conference in Cannes.
Asked about political tensions around the world, especially in the US and Europe, and their influence on real estate, Gosin said: "Every day in the US is a surprise, so... As I said when I talked to Mario Draghi [the former president of the European Central Bank and former prime minister of Italy, who gave the opening keynote], you know, the Europeans should thank us for making Europe great again.
"Unfortunately the [US] GDP was at negative two-and-a-half percent and the dollar declined by 5% and the euro is up 15%.
"I think the random activities in the US may have an impact, but the American spirit and entrepreneurship and power of the business community in the US will overcome anything that they put before us.
"In Europe, obviously the sentiment on America is interesting. Many Europeans feel we're not as reliable as a partner as we have been, but the American people have an incredible connection with Europe."
Asked about the company's European growth after it bought Gerald Eve in the UK and set up French and German businesses, Gosin said: "We follow opportunity, we follow talent. I mean, if there isn't the talent available in a country, we won't go there. As it happens, we have a lot of people talking about us and wanting to be with us.
"So I mean, if you follow the GDP, we've GDP of 70%-75% of the market is in UK, France and Germany. I mean the next biggest could be Italy and Spain, and then the Nordics. So we have every intention of being a major player in in the European market.
"Our strategy is not being the biggest, but it is being the best. We have the highest revenue per capita and revenue per employee in the United States for one of the big firms. We'll continue that, that effort. We hope to repeat the same thing in Europe."
For more from Gosin, including the company's focus on talent and its European expansion, watch the video above.