years have been transformative, we invented almost everything that matters today from light switches to running water and toilets to airplanes and cell phones and that is just the beginning. i care about what technologies we can invent in the future that improves the human condition. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern. you can listen to q and a on our c-span now apps. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government funded by these television companies and more. including netco. . ♪♪

>> netco. support c-span is a public service along with other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. secretary of state antony blinken was in a fireside chat to talk foreign policy during the conference of mayors in washington dc. he touched on the state department's mission and the russia/ukraine war. this is just over 20 minutes. >> honored to introduce the 71st united states secretary of state, at the forefront of shaping america's war policy. the most senior foreign policy, under president obama and president clinton. the challenge we faced this year have highlighted a crucial realization for us as mayors. global issues often have direct and significant impacts on our local communities. we are not insulated from the

complex things that happen beyond our country's borders. and that works the other way too. american cities are gaining an inclusion -- and influential role in solving global issues, the state department has recognized this and in 2022, secretary blinken established the department's first diplomacy unit and appointed the first special representative for cities and states diplomacy and i know you know that she's back there, give her a round of applause, love you, nina. nina was a mayor too so she's the perfect person to head up the mayors to do this. this team focuses on giving leaders a voice in the global conversation and last year they hosted the first ever summit of the americas in denver. who came to that? raise your hand. if you didn't go you got to go next year. it was fantastic.

anyway. it is absolutely my pleasure to introduce the one and only secretary of state antony blinken. come on out, my friend. >> thank you. >> high. hi. [applause] >> hello. good morning. we are so honored to have you. this is a special treat. it really is. it is so nice to have you. you should give him a huge round of applause. is the only secretary of state from the united states conference of mayors. we love you. it's not like you are busy or anything. >> not once but twice. a few things going on. so do all of you. >> so you came last year too. it was really great.

we had a wonderful sit down. i was kind of surprised to hear a lot of people say what exactly does the state department do? so let's start there. >> first and foremost, what we are doing every day is trying to be out there around the world helping to solve problems for the american people, that our number one job, security, opportunities, that translates into a lot of things that may not be so obvious. i hope for the good in cities around the country, jobs. we are out there every day advocating for american businesses and american workers around the world so companies that are based in cities that may be exporting can do it effectively and can cut through red tape in countries around the world so that at the same time, other countries, businesses that want to invest in the united states and invest in businesses and your cities are able to do that effectively. we can point them in the right direction and help them navigate. that's just one thing that has a direct impact but you said

something i think is exactly right. pretty much everything we are trying to do around the world in the united states, for our citizens, is actually starting in our cities. that something we can talk about. >> mayors always say we are at ground 0. we are. we are closest to our communities but you think mayors play a critical role in the state department. explain what that looks like? how can we help you? >> first of all, what you're doing every day is making a huge difference for us around the world. for example, we are trying to tackle climate change, the decisions you are making your cities, to electrify -- if you decide to compost waste. all of these decisions are having a profound global impact. shows our own leadership and

secondly as a practical matter is helping to get to the solutions. we see that every day around the world. something else is powerful that i have seen that you are talking about in denver. i am convinced from the time i spent traveling around the world and this country, for any given problem, somewhere, someone probably has the answer or the beginning of an answer and more often than not it is happening in the city or the mayor because you are problem solvers. politics is less of an issue at a national level. figuring out the answers to problems is job number one. the more we can connect people including connecting you with us and connecting you with colleagues around the world the more i think we can short-circuit the process of finding an answer to a given problem so that is incredibly powerful. why we did the city summit and why we have this office for

national diplomacy. >> it has made mayors think globally. that is critical especially economic development. it touches so many levels. i think you have done a phenomenal job. nina is incredible and daniel, love daniel, a brand new baby. >> we have a great team. as you mentioned as deputy mayor of los angeles, she knows from both sides, we worked together on foreign policy, so she's got this from both angles. think for a minute about some of the things we are trying to do, say you care about climate change and this gets back to what the state department is doing. we represent in the united states may be 15% of global emissions so even if we did everything right at home, that still leaves 85% around the

world, we are out there, john kerry is out there trying to find ways forward to make sure other countries, other cities, other states are stepping up and sometimes national governments are slow on the uptake, that's where cities come in, that is where states come in. if you care as we all do about the pandemic. even if we did everything right in the united states, you have a pandemic that is out there and continues to be out there somewhere else you are a strong is the weakest link in the chain, the state department is working every day to strengthen global health security to make sure countries have what they need, we are prepared hopefully to prevent and deal with so it doesn't come here and bite us. the phones we are carrying in our pockets every day, all that technology, now ai. the way they get used, the rules, the standards by which they are used get decided in a windowless room somewhere around the world with lots of other countries, not only at

the table, we are at the head of the table and that means the way those rules get decided and shaped hopefully will be more reflective of things we care about like privacy, like making sure technologies not use to hold people down but to lift them up. in each of these ways and so many more the things we are doing around the world have an impact here but it goes the other way too. what you are doing every day has a huge impact around the world and the leadership you are showing is leadership to the united states and i hear that everywhere i go and i hear people talking about something that's happening not just in new york or washington but in reno, the incredible work you've done on technology, climate, that resonates around the world. >> we are that unified national voice so i would agree with you absolutely. one of the things we talked

about, i was so impressed, you really understand this, we've been talking about this all year, mental health crisis, fentanyl, opioids. and you are very honest, you were impressive. let's talk about that and what that supply-chain looks like because it is crippling our cities. >> almost all of you are living and feeling this as mayors but also as mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, seeing the impact of this in every country - community in the country. number one killer of americans age 18 to 49, number one killer of americans, fentanyl -- not cancer, not violence. it's fentanyl.

we have a profound responsibility. this is the number one killer of americans. we have to do something about it across the entire chain that brings fentanyl from one place, at least its ingredients, to the united states. we organize the world on this. this summer we built a coalition, more than 140 countries and organizations to work together to tackle this problem. one of the reasons these countries came together as we were able to say to them we have been the canary in the co mine. we've had the impact of fentanyl and synthetic opioids for a while here, we've seen the devastation it is wreaking but now we see it pop up in other places to the extent markets got saturated here, criminal enterprises are engaged in this, trying to make markets elsewhere in europe and asia and latin america close to home. second, when we had the city summit of the americas, we had 250 mayors from around the

hemisphere, we spent some time talking about fentanyl and i met with local officials in denver including the mayor, the chief of police and heard about efforts being undertaken to deal on the ground with the problem. then we connected the dots. how does it wind up in denver and these cities in the first place in one of the ways it does that is the ingredients that go into making fentanyl, the chemical precursors. a lot are being made in china and they get illicitly shipped typically to mexico, synthesize into fentanyl and it wind up in the united states. so president biden was determined to do something about this. we can go after chinese companies and we have, we can go after individuals engaged in the solicit transfer of chemical ingredients but the best way to get results ideally is through cooperation. so we spent months engaged with

the chinese, the president meeting with xi xinping in san francisco a few months ago on this and we made clear to china that it had a response ability, even if it didn't care what was happening in the united states, more countries around the world were getting deeply concerned about synthetic opioids and of china was seen as part of the problem that wasn't going to be good for them. if they were seen as part of the solution, that could be a popular thing. to cut to the chase, the deal president biden and president xi reached in san francisco led to china taking a much more positive role in doing something about this. so they issued rules and regulations to make it clear, taking these ingredients and shipping them off to mexico or anywhere else, second and more important, they crackdown on the businesses that were doing this and took down dozens of companies.

finally they agreed to establish with us a working group so we can track this every single day. as a result of this diplomacy, as a result of what president biden did in pressing the chinese on this and having cooperation, we are getting results and those results, i'm convinced are going to translate in all of our cities, all of our states, hopefully with fewer of these chemicals getting to mexico and less fentanyl coming into the united states. >> thank you so much. what i'm hearing is that there were other countries that weren't at the table and it sounds like that is changing. >> mexico is now playing an increasingly leading role in this, engaged in this global coalition we put together, engaged with us every day and trying to take down the colonel enterprises that are engaged in this. with mexico, it is a matter of policing. were working closely with them. other things are really

important too. the entire regular tory scheme that they have, to make sure they have the rules and regulations in place to do something about the illicit manufacturing of, trade in these chemicals and that cooperation is better than it has ever been. it's a big challenge because two years ago, we seized, that doesn't mean we got everything, we seized enough fentanyl to kill every single american citizen. that is the scope of the problem. that is why cooperation we get through diplomacy with china, with mexico, with other countries is so important. >> that is unbelieble. let's talk a little bit about ukraine. last night i met a mayor, it was really, i think sometimes we forget obviously because as mayors we are local in doing the things we do in our own

cities, but how can we sort of support them as mayors, talk a little bit about ukraine. >> what you've done already is incredible. we were talking about this before we came on almost from day one, the connections between mayors, sisters cities, the united states and ukraine, that is solidarity. the fact that they have got -- they know they have so many supporters, many of you have ukrainian american communities, that is important as well. that solidarity makes a big difference and let me say this. seems like it's half a world away, across a big ocean, so why should we care about this? i would say two things, most of us don't like the notion of a big country coming in and conquering one of its neighbors. .. but even more important is this. if you allow someone like putin to do this with impunity, to

just go in, try to redraw the borders of another country, by force, in fact what he wanted to do was wipe it off the what he wanted to do was wipe it off the map, eliminated, a racist. you all of that pandora's box to open in one place, chances are it's going to open of other places and would-be aggressors in other parts of the world will see that in this they see that the response they will think i can get away with that, too. putin himself packing up and stopped a conduit is tendered to integrate almost certainly would at ukraine.pped might've gone after countries including touches in native format responsibility to come in a protective. it's ukrainians fighting on the ground for the country for the future for the freedom. he and dozens of other countries are supporting them. we have not been disclosed. we have 50 countries and we talk about sometimes what the united states spending all this money doing all the stuff over secom note else is doing it. in a case of ukraine yes, we

have invested a lot thanks of generosity of our taxpayers, bipartisan support in congress but other countries have actually done more. we put about $70 billion, $75 billion into this the last couple of years. partners and allies over $100 billion. right now the president some of you know is trying to get some additional support for ukraine from carcass and supplemental budget request. the money we are requesting and the will go to supporting ukraine's military almost all of that will ask would be invested in the united states, including in a number of your cities to invest in the equipment, the military equipment, weapons, our defense industrial base which can be provided to ukraine. i hope, more than hope, it's really necessary that this happens. but your support, your solidarity it resonates in ukraine to mayors in ukraine like here are really the heart of the country. their knowledge that some of you

are with them makes a big difference. >> yet. it is so true, it really i is. i could tell emotionally he was in such a different space. it waswa heartbreaking. >> it's a living with that everyday. every single day the russians continued to launch barrages of rockets and missiles and trying to destroy the infrastructure, hitting a lot of people. what we've done and what of the countries of done is really important for the future of that country. >> speaking of emotionally, like a said we're doing a lot on mentallt health. how do you take care of your mental health? your job isot not stressful at all. so talk a little bit about that. like, because i learned something about you that very cool andw in no, but you'd thik this is what you could say complete to me. i want to know how do you take care of your mental health? >> i got a few things going for

me. first of all and to suspect it's the same for many of you come up got an amazing team working with me for every hour i worked there working two or three or four hours. [applause] >> right? right? >> we all know that. second, in terms of keeping things real, i've got two young children, a soon-to-be 5-year-old and a soon-to-be 4-year-old. about a year ago my wife was telling our kids, daddy is going to be on tv and they were like, no, i want to watch sesame street. everyone has their hob beast and pastimes. for me it's music. hillary: did you know this? he was on y jep the other night -- he was on "jeopardy" the other night. i'm sure they didn't get the question right, but no, actually two people got the question right. i thought it was so interesting, they had a picture of you at the

oust and -- that the the -- at the white house and you were jamming on the guitar. i didn't know that about you. you're a musician. secretary blinken: we had a great event at the state department. we try to connect people around the world through sports and through the art, through music, through other arts. music, for me at least is the best connector. it break down barriers everywhere. doesn't matter if there's a language barrier, a geographic barrier, even a political barrier. it connects people. we're engaged in music diplomacy. we, going back many year have sent american musicians around the world on different programs. it's done incredible things for the united states. people really respond to that. we had a big event at the state department for new initiatives we're taking. we had a lot of performers. the event was running late. we needed to clear the room itch thought the fastest way to get people out of the room was for me to go up there and play.

hillary: i love it. what are your music tastes? secretary blinken: i'm sort of grounded in blues and i'm kind of stuck in the 1970's. [applause] hillary: all right. all right. i love that. i absolutely love that. so i know that you're incredibly busy so we'll wrap this up but, ok, one question. here we go. let's see. taylor swift or james taylor? secretary blinken: here's the great thing, they played together so i take them both. hillary: one last question. [applause] that's fantastic. see you aced that. i thought i was going to get you. secretary blinken: you didn't tell me about that in advance. hillary: no. do you ever think about running for office? secretary blinken: i'm leaving that to all of you. i so admire people who put themselves out there as most of

you have in running for office. i've got to tell you, i've worked for president biden for more than 20 years. it's been the greatest privilege of my career. i started working for him in the senate. then when he was vice president with president obama, now as president. and he's an extraordinary person to work for. the back and forth, just the -- the conversations, the discussions. and every once in a while, an argument. disagreement. and every once in a while he'll say, when we're having an argument and it's going back and forth, he'll look at me and say, how many votes did you get? [laughter] that pretty much stops the conversation right there. that pretty much stopped the conversation right there. so i really, i admire all of you because putting yourself out there in that way, especially now in these days, i not challenging that is, how tough it is. thank you, thank you, thank you, for doing it. every single day what you're

doing is making a difference, not just for your own constituents, it's making a difference for the country and they really believe it's making a difference for the world. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. we're so grateful that you came and honestly, please give him a huge round of applause. in such a fan. i am such a fan. >> right back at you. >> so thank you. >> thank you. [applause] >> you've got a standing o. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we take you live now to the annual national prayer breakfast at the u.s. capitol. president biden is attending this year's gathering along with house speaker mike johnson and house minority leader hakeem jeffries. you are watching live coverage on c-span2.

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