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# 									Celebrating World Trade Month and Advancing the Biden-Harris Administration’s Trade Agenda							

FPC Briefing

 Arun Venkataraman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service

Thursday, May 9, 2024, 12:15 p.m. ET

New York City

May 9, 2024

## 								Summary							

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Nearly $85 billion in goods and services are traded globally every day. Observed every May, World Trade Monthis an opportunity to recognize the ways international trade affects the lives of millions across the United States and the world. Arun Venkataraman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, participates in World Trade Week NYC, Kick-off Event on May 9. He briefs the media on the International Trade Administration’s commercial diplomacy efforts to deliver on the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to creating a more sustainable and inclusive economy through international trade.
   

**NEW YORK FOREIGN PRESS CENTER, 799 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA, 10TH FLOOR**

**MODERATOR:**  Good afternoon, and welcome to the New York Foreign Press Center.  It’s my pleasure to welcome and introduce our briefer today.  We are joined by Arun Venkataraman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and the Foreign Commercial Service.

Today’s briefing is on the topic of the International Trade Administration’s commercial diplomacy efforts to deliver on the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to creating a more sustainable and inclusive economy through international trade.  

My name is Daphne Stavropoulos, and I’ll be today’s moderator during the question-and-answer session.  And with that – let me just state today’s briefing is on-the-record.  And with that, it’s a pleasure to turn it over to the assistant secretary.  Welcome and thank you. 

**ASSISTANT SECRETARY VENKATARAMAN:**  Thank you, Daphne.  And good afternoon, everyone.  It is, indeed, a great pleasure to be here with all of you today.  My name is Arun Venkataraman, and I am the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and the Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service at the U.S. Department of Commerce.  Under the leadership of Secretary Gina Raimondo, the Department of Commerce is at the forefront of tackling our nation’s most pressing economic and national security priorities, including those relating to emerging technologies, critical supply chains, manufacturing, innovation, and workforce development.

For those of you who might not be familiar with the International Trade Administration, or ITA, we are the part of the U.S. Department of Commerce that promotes U.S. exports, attracts inbound investment, protects industry competitiveness and critical U.S. technologies, and defends U.S. industries against unfair trade.  The ITA team spans over 2,300 trade and business experts, who are strategically located across 100 locations in the United States and in over 80 international markets.  Simply put, our mission is to promote inclusive economic opportunities specifically through trade.

The global markets and commercial service team of commercial diplomats and trade experts that I lead helps U.S. businesses of all shapes and sizes and sectors grow their global business sales through exports to improve U.S. competitiveness and advance the priorities of the Biden-Harris administration. 

Given that, May is a very important month for us, because it is World Trade Month.  In fact, today I will also be participating in an event here in New York City to celebrate World Trade Month and the many ways in which trade improves lives and contributes to global economic growth.  With billions of dollars and services traveling around the globe on a daily basis – from the cars we drive and the flights we take, to the phones we use and the groceries we buy every day – trade is an essential part of our lives.  And making trade work for American businesses and families is the sole focus of the work that we do every day at the International Trade Administration.

Last year, we were proud to support 93,000 U.S. businesses and helped to facilitate $180 billion in U.S. exports and inward investment, supporting nearly 600,000 American jobs.  Going local, New York is consistently among the top five exporting states, with over $97 billion in exports in 2023.  

As the statistics I shared make clear, part of our core mission is to promote U.S. exports to foreign markets, which are home to over 95 percent of the world’s consumers.  The evidence is clear – by and large, businesses that export bring in greater revenue, create better jobs, and more jobs, and pay better wages.  

But the power of trade extends far beyond exports.  Trade is a force for good and it is a lever to advance both U.S. interests and those of our allies and partners, from promoting high quality standards, to advocating for fair wages, to setting strong rules of the road for next-generation technologies.  The Biden-Harris administration takes an expansive view of the power and promise that trade offers businesses, workers, and the communities that they serve.

Part of making trade work for American families begins with recognizing that strong supply chains are vital to U.S. competitiveness and national security.  That’s why we launched, at ITA, the first of its kind supply chain center to create the tools, partnerships, and develop mitigation strategies necessary to increase supply chain resilience, foster economic prosperity, and increase national security.  We’re moving beyond traditional trade agreements to make breakthroughs in commercial opportunities for U.S. companies and their counterparts abroad, all while strengthening our partnerships with allies around the world.

Through the President’s National Export Strategy, we’re designing export promotion actions and activities to increase and enhance market opportunities for U.S. industry across several critical sectors, from climate and clean technologies, to travel and tourism, to agriculture, fisheries, and forestry.  We’re deepening economic ties with likeminded partners to strengthen our mutual resilience, counter coercive influences, and protect our national security.  We’ve launched new commercial and investment frameworks in fast-growing regions, including the Indo Pacific.

We are working with our partners to help them harness the benefits of the digital economy, including by promoting trusted cross-border data flows and the safe and secure dissemination of leading American technologies.  We’re promoting foreign investment into the United States so that cutting-edge products will be made in America into the future.  And when other countries don’t play by the rules, we ensure that products made elsewhere are traded fairly in the United States, while also promoting stronger labor and environmental standards.

And cutting across all of our work is an unwavering commitment to equity, through serving businesses of all shapes and sizes, especially micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, and expanding opportunities to businesses in underserved communities to ensure that the benefits of trade are broadly shared.  We are committed to supporting rural businesses as well as businesses that are minority-, veteran-, and LGBTQ+-owned.  The vast majority of U.S. exporters and 85 percent of ITA’s clients are micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, or MSMEs.  

MSMEs and businesses in underserved communities have unique advantages but also huge potential for growth.  These businesses often face the same obstacles: the lack of opportunity, the inaccurate perception of risk, insufficient financing, and challenges identifying and vetting potential partners.  That is why we continue to prioritize targeted outreach to U.S. businesses in underserved communities, many of which are MSMEs, to help them compete and win in global markets.  As part of our Global Diversity Export Initiative, we are meeting these businesses in their own communities.  And over the past two years, we’ve doubled the number of participants on our minority business trade missions through our Global Diversity Export Initiative.

One example of our international engagement with allies and partners is through our signature trade mission called Trade Winds.  Trade Winds is the United States Government’s largest annual trade mission and business development forum.  This year it will be headquartered in Istanbul, Türkiye.  ITA is leading a delegation of over 100 U.S. businesses representing a wide variety of sectors, from technology and cyber security to renewable energy and agribusiness.  These companies are all seeking opportunities to build or deepen partnerships in Türkiye and across Europe and Eurasia.  Access to U.S. commercial diplomats and trade specialists from over 30 markets across Europe and Eurasia will be made available to these participants.

The first ever Trade Winds was held in Istanbul in 2008.  The fact that Trade Winds is returning to Istanbul speaks volumes to the city’s importance as an international trade hub and gateway to markets throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.  

In addition to Türkiye, U.S. businesses also have the opportunity to visit five other countries for business-to-business matchmaking with prescreened companies and potential partners in the region.  Before arriving in Istanbul, several participants will have traveled to Italy and Romania, and then after concluding their time in Istanbul, these companies will carry on to Denmark, Kazakhstan, and Poland.  

Trade Winds generates valuable commercial deals for all sorts of companies.  In total over the years, Trade Winds has helped facilitate nearly 600 separate deals valued at over $3.7 billion, creating huge economic opportunities for both the host countries and U.S. businesses.  

In addition to our trade promotion programs like Trade Winds, we are charged with attracting foreign direct investment into the United States.  We do this throughout the year through our network globally, but our signature event is the SelectUSA Investment Summit.  And to give you a sense of the scale of last year’s event, we had almost 5,000 participants joined by economic development organizations from across all 50 states and including U.S. territories.  We had delegations from over 80 countries, and they ranged from the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds to the smallest of tech startups.  

And this is critically important to us and to our economy, because for 11 years running, we are proud that the U.S. has been the number one destination for foreign investment globally.  Inbound foreign direct investment is a critical part of our country’s economic success and that includes, of course, New York State.  The U.S. affiliates of majority foreign-owned firms support nearly 500,000 U.S. jobs in New York State alone with the software and IT services, business services, textiles, financial services, and consumer product sectors accounting for a large chunk of these positions.  

The 2024 Investment Summit will be on June 23rd through the 26th at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.  We invite you all to register and participate with us at selectusasummit.us.  Please do join us.  

These are but a few examples of the ways that the International Trade Administration helps to advance U.S. economic prosperity and competitiveness and demonstrate that trade is a force for good.  I look forward to discussing our work together as we move into the Q&A portion of today’s briefing.  Thank you all for being here today.  

**MODERATOR:**Thank you.  Please raise your hand and state your name and your media outlet if you have a question.  First question.  

**QUESTION:**  Thank you, Assistant Secretary.  My name is Ahmed Fathi of ATN News.  Let me just verify one number.  You said that the total exports of the United States is $180 billion, which New York State exports 97 billion of them?

**ASSISTANT SECRETARY VENKATARAMAN:**Sorry, let me get that number for you.  

**QUESTION:**  Okay.  

**ASSISTANT SECRETARY VENKATARAMAN:**Sorry, no.  What I said was that our team last year has helped facilitate $180 billion in U.S. exports and New York State accounted for $97 billion in 2023.

**QUESTION:**  Okay.  How much is the total U.S. exports to the outside world, excluding gas and oil and military hardware? 

**ASSISTANT SECRETARY VENKATARAMAN:**Okay.  We can come back to you with that.  

**QUESTION:**  Okay.  How do you explain still – I don’t want to quote the number – I’m leaving it to you – that a small country like the Netherlands, which can fit in the State of Maryland – exports close to a billion dollars while the U.S. all is lagging behind in nontraditional products.  I’m not referring to gas and oil and the other strategic elements.  

**ASSISTANT SECRETARY VENKATARAMAN:**Yeah, I think perhaps I see it differently.  I think frankly that disparity that you’re talking about is actually more a testament to the strength and dynamism of our large domestic market.  When you have a domestic market that is as strong as our domestic market, so many companies are succeeding in the U.S., including small businesses, simply by selling down the street.  So the – that difference – a country like the Netherlands has to sell much more to consumers around the world because it has a much smaller market.  So I think our domestic market does consume much of the production that happens here in the United States.  

**QUESTION:**  Thank you.  Tuyen Le from Vietnam TV.  The U.S. is one of the biggest trade partner to Vietnam.  So we really care about how the trade policy from the U.S. would be in maybe next year or in coming time, four years, for example.  What do you think?  Thank you. 

**ASSISTANT SECRETARY VENKATARAMAN:**So I think you see that the United States greatly values our trade partnership with Vietnam.  We recently elevated our relationship with Vietnam to a Comprehensive and Strategic Partnership.  And our trade and commercial relationship is fundamental to that elevation.  

You also see through our work together on the Indo-Pacific Economic Partnership just how critical we believe Vietnam is to the future of the region, to the future of our presence and collaboration with the region, and to the work that we are going to do in the future.  So when you talk about the next few years, I think the trajectory is nowhere but up, and I think it will grow significantly as we continue to grow that collaboration through the IPEF and other fora.  

**QUESTION:**  Good afternoon.  My name is Jordan Dakamseh.  I’m also from Jordan.  (Laughter.)  So if you allow me, I have to ask about Jordan.  Before that, I have a smaller question about Trade Winds, and you mentioned that you go into Türkiye and then to Romania and Italy.  Have you thought that you need one also in Middle East with the Arab countries?  

Now, my really question is, how do you evaluate the trade relationship between your department, the U.S. and Jordan, and how you can enhance that relationship and so we all benefit from the trade diplomacy?  Thank you.  

**ASSISTANT SECRETARY VENKATARAMAN:**Thank you, Jordan from Jordan.  Let me – on this particular Trade Winds mission, we will not have the opportunity to go to the Middle East.  We’ll be focusing on the region of Europe and Eurasia, so we’ll be stopping in Istanbul and then the five markets in that region. 

But I have to say last year we had – I’m sorry, not last year, two years ago, we – our Trade Winds was in Dubai.  So we very much did encompass the entire Middle East as part of that Trade Winds.  It was a highly successful event.  So we’re very happy to be able to do that, and we look forward to getting a chance to return to the region soon.

I should also mention that I have myself been to Jordan very recently.  I had a fantastic visit.  I had a chance to visit Petra while I was there, and it was incredibly stunning to just see how beautiful and how well preserved the area was.  And it was a spectacular visit for me to see firsthand how deep our partnership is with Jordan, and I think we can really trace the tremendous growth in that economic partnership to our free trade agreement.  Jordan was one of the first free trade agreements we had in – with a – with our partners, from – I guess dating from 2001.  

And that free trade agreement has really been the foundation for the most impressive deepening of our economic partnership.  In fact, the United States is now Jordan’s third-largest trade partner, accounting for over 20 percent of Jordan’s exports.  And Jordan’s exports have grown, I believe, almost 4,000 percent since the free trade agreement was finalized in 2001.  So I begin – when I think about Jordan – with pointing out to what a strong foundation that we already have built on the success of that free trade agreement.

Looking ahead, again, I think there are so many opportunities for us to collaborate even more closely.  We are already seeing a much deeper partnership with Jordan across – we have so many American companies active in Jordan already.  American brands are very popular in Jordan.  We are proud of that.  We are proud for the affinity that the Jordanian people and the American people have for each other and that’s reflected in those economic ties.  

We – as we continue to work together on that economic partnership, there’s always areas to work on.  We’re going to focus on how can we create a better business environment for businesses, how can we improve transparency and regulatory processes, how can we mitigate some of the barriers that might be inhibiting those deeper commercial partnerships.  But as we do so, we at the International Trade Administration are committed to using the free trade agreement and making sure that American companies are aware of the opportunities in Jordan available to them by virtue of that free trade agreement.

**MODERATOR:**  Thank you.  Let’s go to Mr. Yamada and then Mr. Manik.

**QUESTION:**  Thank you so much.  Thank you so much.  This is – I am Tsukasa Yamada from JiJiPress, Japanese news agency.  Japanese Government focused on free and open Indo-Pacific, FOIP.  To realize FOIP, it is important to finalize Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.  How is outlook of IPEF?  I know this treaty is not agreed among countries taking part in negotiation.  Please.

**ASSISTANT SECRETARY VENKATARAMAN:**  I’m sorry, what was the – could you repeat the question?

**QUESTION:**  Okay.  How is the outlook of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, IPEF, please?

**ASSISTANT SECRETARY VENKATARAMAN:**  Great.  Well, fantastic.  Let me first begin by just acknowledging what a deep and historic partnership we of course have with Japan as a strategic ally.  And despite how deep and historic that partnership has been, I have been amazed in the last three years to see how much that partnership has accelerated and deepened.  And that strategic alliance is stronger than ever, and I really think there is – we’re in a historic moment of opportunity with the U.S.-Japan relations.  

We very much welcome Japan as our number-one foreign investor in the United States, but also the deep partnership we have as we work together through a variety of fora, including our Japan-United States commercial and investment partnership, and including the ways that we work trilaterally with countries like the Philippines and Korea, to really strengthen our partnership and strengthen our work together with partners in the region to support, as you said, what we both agree on, which is a free and open Indo-Pacific.  

And the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is a critical part of that.  We are proud of the fact that in short order we have managed collectively, with Japan’s help and all of our Indo-Pacific partners, to be in a position to move aggressively towards implementing the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.  We were able to enter into force the supply chain pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework earlier this year, and we will soon be setting up the institutions to operationalize that supply chain pillar, which is really going to be critical to mitigating supply chain disruptions going forward and helping make our economies collectively more resilient to the threats that could occur from supply chain disruptions.  

We are also in the process, in the two other pillars that the Commerce Department leads – one relates to the clean economy, where – and the other relates to a fair economy, where we work on ensuring a transparent environment free of corruption and to ensure the efficiency of tax administration.  And in both of those areas, we have achieved a substantial conclusion of negotiations already.  

And so what we are doing right now is we are poised – as each of these economies in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework engages their national institutions to ratify these parts of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, we are poised now to turn to key goal of implementation.  Because unlike a lot of other agreements, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is not just about reaching an agreement and then stepping back and allowing the agreement to operate.  In fact, it takes a lot of collaboration and intentionality for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework to be put into place to ensure that we can mitigate those supply chain disruptions, to ensure that we are in fact bringing money into supporting the clean economy in all of these economies.  

And on that front, I have to mention this June we will be hosting the first annual ministerial for the IPEF ministers in Singapore.  And as part of that, we will also be having a clean investor forum where we will be pulling together entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, government agencies, and other financing mechanisms to outline strategies in a tangible manner to catalyze greater investment in sustainable infrastructure.  So when you ask how the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is going, as we say in the U.S., it’s going gangbusters.  

**MODERATOR:**  Okay, we have time for, like one, maybe two – let’s try to squeeze them in.  

**QUESTION:**  Thank you.  My name is Manik Mehta and I’m a syndicated journalist.  Again, on the question of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, would you also consider bilateral arrangements, such as entering into an FTA with countries like India, which is supposed to be the fastest growing economy today in the world?  How do you see that?  And secondly, what areas of interest would appeal to U.S. importers, not just exporters, as far as dealing with India’s concern?  Thank you.

**ASSISTANT SECRETARY VENKATARAMAN:**Sure.  So let me begin by just saying how critical a partner India is – and like I was saying with Japan, has become an even more critical partner for the United States.  We are amazed by the incredible deepening of the collaboration that’s happened in the last few years with India.  And I think what you see in our relationship, we are doubling down on India and finding more ways to collaborate and grow that economic integration.  

Free trade agreements are a fantastic tool and can be very effective, but I think we should also remember the free trade agreements are only one tool in the toolkit.  And right now, when we look at the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, that is addressing key elements that you don’t find in free trade agreements, addressing the urgencies of the day.  We’re focused on getting that implemented and getting that done to make sure that we avoid some of the vulnerabilities that we all learned during the pandemic, and India is a key player in that.  

You ask about how India is viewed as a trading partner for the United States.  Americans – American companies rely on Indian goods and services in so many sectors, whether it’s with respect to IT services or whether it’s in the area of textiles, whether it’s increasingly the area of defense coproduction.  We are growing those partnerships across so many sectors with India.  As someone who – myself who has worked on U.S.-India trade policy for a long time, I genuinely believe that this is very much a heyday of this bilateral economic relationship.

**MODERATOR:**  Okay, the last question will go Hiro in the back row.  

**QUESTION:**  Hi.  Hiro Nishimura from Japan’s Nikkei.  Thank you for this opportunity.  So heading into the presidential election in fall, trade has become a real hot topic once again, right?  So I’d like to hear your comment on what the administration thinks of former President Trump’s 10 percent universal tariff.  And in relation to that, no offense, but a lot of people, a lot of experts say the Biden administration’s trade agenda is merely a carbon copy of the former administration.  How would you respond to that?  How would you differentiate the Biden administration’s trade agenda, the core part of it, to that of the former administration? Thank you.

**ASSISTANT SECRETARY VENKATARAMAN:**Sure.  I’m not going to comment on candidate Trump’s proposals or what they may be, but with respect to trade, I will let him and his own teams speak to that.  But I will quibble very much with the notion that this President’s trade agenda is a carbon copy of the previous administration, so I think that is absolutely not the case.  So I think what you will see is that this President from day one has made absolutely clear that central to American interests, central to the American middle class, and is central to long-term American economic national security is growing our partnerships around the world, not shying away from them and not rejecting them.  

And part of those partnerships is precisely what we’ve been talking about with respect to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework or with respect to the Japan-U.S. commercial and investment partnership.  These partnerships are central to doubling down on where we need to partner with our allies, because we’ve learned that trade is an incredibly powerful tool for economic growth.  It does lift people out of poverty.  It is an incredible force, as I said, a force for good.  

But at the same time, we need to be sure that we’ve learned the lessons of the past several years – for example, during the pandemic when we learned the supply chains can be easily disrupted if you have choke points.  How do we diversify those supply chains to avoid those choke points?  How do we look to make sure that as we trade and as we engage in more open trade, that we engage that open trade with the most trusted of partners, with partners that we know will not use trade as a club to battle us or to threaten our national security.  

So the focus with which this administration has approached trade and recognized trade as an important lever for both economic and national security and that – trade can only happen if we engage our international partners and don’t push them away, that, I think, is a fundamental difference that you see in our trade policy.

**MODERATOR:**  Well, thank you so much.  That concludes today’s briefing.  We really appreciate your time, Assistant Secretary.  Today’s briefing was on the record.  We will provide a transcript later today to you.  Thank you for coming.

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