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conference. e we >> thank leyou, everybody. our ambassador roundtable is a tradition at the washington international trade conference. we are so pleased to welcome here today the ambassador for mexico, singapore, costa rica and appointed ambassador of the eu to the united states. our moderator, kristin silverberg the president and ceo of the business roundtable. >> thank you, ken and thank you for having us here today. this panel, the ambassadors panel has become a tradition which i am delighted to help continue. i am particularly excited because the topic we are discussing today, the role of trade in advancing foreign policy is a critical one for the ongoing debate in the u.s. about our approach to trade agreements, there was a time not

long ago when the u.s. administrations would unapologetically count the national security and foreign policy benefits of trade, but that line of argument has gone out of fashion in parts of washington. when you hear officials from the trump or biden administration talking about the connection between national security and trade, they are likely to be talking about the national security risks of trade rather than ways the trade can be used to advance u.s. foreign-policy interest. i am thrilled to have the opportunity to put this issue to some of our closest trading partners to ask them how they think about these connections, how they think about the role of their own trade agreements with us, so let me get started. i want to start with you, i'm going to start with this issue of. a lot of people in the u.s. government, a lot of companies

are worried about supply-chain risk including, but not limited to geopolitical risk and of course we have the trade agreement with mexico that's how you think about this trend and what you think we need to do to take full advantage of this opportunity. >> thank you very much, i think we are true believers in trade in mexico. we just became a partner number one of the u.s. last year, with about 800 billion dollars in trade. if we are partners number one the u.s., it means we have an incredible effort in both countries in order to have this nurturing trend. last year also mexico received the most important foreign

investment, direct foreign investment in its history. and, what is very interesting is that many of the companies that have invested in mexico, they are looking for human capital. if you speak with the people of tesla, tesla announced its new factory, they say they found out that they would have a source of very well-prepared in mexico that will work for their factory and that was one of the most important aspects to have investment. another thing that i can say is that when mexico exports, we have 40% of

previous imports. when mexico exports the u.s. is also exporting. what the shows you is that mexico and the u.s. are not just trade partners, but that we are producing together, there are many, many, companies the come and go several times. they are produced together. so it's not just trade and economic integration. >> wonderful, thank you. let me turn to you and ask you about costa rica's trading relationship, when president bush signed in 2004, he unapologetically cited the national or foreign policy strategic benefits. he talked about the fact that it would impact you as influence in the region,

stability, and so on. i think the economic benefits of the deal have been clear our own bilateral trade has expanded. you think it has also met some expectations in terms of strategic benefit, can you just benefit and talk about the water benefits? >> i want to start with -- part of my jobs to talk to everyone on the hill and talk to everyone. one of the first things that people ask or when i asked him about costa rica, they think about the place to go to visit, most of the pineapples that you get here and bananas, nanas, but bananas are from costa rica. when i tell them our number one export our medical devices, people think, what do you mean? i didn't know that. >> yes we do, it is, it has been a success story for costa

rica. not only medical devices, that's just an example. also semiconductors and many other things. let's start with costa rica even before has had strong friendships, working relationships with united states. but it helped expand those relationships, not only with the united states but also in central america and the dominican republic, which is a big plus. >> we do have to -- two vibrant sectors. i have mentioned them already, the medical devices, which are also close to national security of the united states. and, a semiconductors. i can even tell you that until last year, in august, they announced a 1.2 billion dollar investment in the next two years in costa rica. and that little teeny tiny country that people just think about going to travel, which is

also great, please go. it's a 4.5 hour flight from here. >> but again, what are the challenges that we are having, this is about 20 years ago, what are the challenges, the challenges today is that there are political challenges within the central american region, that probably makes it, although it's the very beneficial for all the countries including costa rica, which is why costa rica is trying to open up to get, why don't we start looking into other options? let me give you a little bit of insight into how slow we are, i don't know if you've heard the saying in costa rica, everything is pure life, so we are slow, but we get there, what do i mean with that you can be slow and not get to her where you need to go, we decided to be part of some of the high standards in the world.

it took us 10 years. when we first started, which actually the minister of strayed -- trade was part of that, they said no you are crazy, costa rica has to go through a lot of congress, changes in laws, regulations. 10 years later we did it. as of two years we are part of oecd countries. that means costa rica can even join, let's say, usmca. why not? there pretty good high standards for costa rica can get to those. kafta dr prepared us for that. again that doesn't mean if we start brother trade agreements, that doesn't mean we're going to leave one behind. but it's going to, if we can give more and we can have higher standards, if a country can do that, why not? thank you. >> let me ask you about

singapore's trade agenda. will the u.s. is moved away from negotiating traditional trade agreements, singapore has charged ahead, you've not implemented 27 fta's. within singapore do you think of those is just part of your economic agenda or do you also think about them as part of a foreign policy tool? >> well, i would start off by saying that trade is three times the gdp in singapore. we obviously know the position i will take. i believe in the rules-based trading system. how it was forged by the u.s. coming out of world war ii and has over the decades contributed i think, immensely to international stability, economic growth, allowing countries large and small to repeat efficiencies of scale, productivity, dividends from innovation and someone. i think in our part of the world, seeing how trade has fueled domestic filament, but

also regional, even global integration amongst economies. when we talk about foreign policy, domestic support for foreign policy is really important. that is for every country. i think trade has for a number of decades been one of those areas where you can see concrete results arising from foreign relations, from the agreements we signed and certainly the benefits in the early decades of globalization may have masked some of the problems we see today. the distributed inequalities and inefficiencies arising from globalization, as all societies have to tackle. but nonetheless, i think if you take it in its totality, the

multilateral rules based trading system has been a plus for almost all countries. maybe a little bit about singapore and the u.s., because this year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the free trade agreement between our two countries. plus establishing 2004. if i take it to the latest year when we have good trade data, 2022, over those 18 years, actually trade between our two countries has grown three times from about $70 billion at its inception to now about $210 billion. by the way, the u.s. enjoys a very healthy surplus of singapore. which may come in useful next year depending on how things shape up. and the u.s. runs a surplus both in trading goods as well as trading services. it's not one masking the other.

but, also as a result free trade agreement, we have close to 6000 u.s. companies in singapore using us as a regional headquarters for some of them. singapore as a springboard to the larger region, reaping the benefits of the integration that we see in asean and larger asian economies. investments from u.s. into singapore, just to give you a sense of what it's like cumulative, it's close to about one half trillion euros dollars. what does that mean? it means the cumulative stock of u.s. fda in singapore is larger than the u.s. fdi into china, japan, and south korea combined. combined. okay?

and so, when i say that, actually there is a lot of economic skin in the game for the u.s. to remain deeply vested in our part of the world, i think you understand what it is i am saying. >> thank you. ambassador tuck yew lui, what are your reflections on the broad question of the world of trade and advancing foreign- policy? >> thank you for the question. i would like to pick the president of the manufacturers association left, because the last statement was, to the point , saying that if we want to advance or we want to move together with our trade and make sure that our foreign policy agenda or security agenda moves in the same way or

in parallel, we have to do those two together. because, well, we probably -- there is between the transatlantic, one of the things is values. it is a value-based partnership. first of all. we were the ones who together build international rules and order and international organizations. and i think we probably have to appreciate more how it works because the trade as we see right now would not be the same if we don't have those international rules and organizations associated. my colleague was talking about oecd, but there are standards with the the pto and many more. if we look at the geopolitics, what is happening right now in

the world, i think it is getting scarier with each day. the turbulence, the conflicts around the world actually have a huge implication on our economy. on the one hand, it's definitely the challenges, the prices of inflation, distorted supply chains, anything you want. but on the other hand, you have reliable trading partners, if you have a really strong and resilient transatlantic relationships, you can see even during the crisis, the most severe crisis, the you actually see the trade growing. also last year, we had ,1.3 trillion between you and the u.s. two years ago, last year

will be almost 5% higher. slowly but steadily we are growing up. and one of the reasons was that in europe we had to make a huge change in intersect or because of the reliance on russian energy resources had to be sold as the issue. don't underestimate how much it costs in organizing that, making sure people don't freeze during the winter, the last one. and on top of that, you have to find where to buy it. new resources. and here comes, alliances matter. most of the growth of the trade is actually due to the eu buys

a lot of lng. when you need to switch paths, if you need to change more than 60% of your energy resources, you have to pay the price and you have to rely on your allies. and i think this actually speaks for itself. we can go sector by sector, semiconductors have been mentioned, we can go into the connectivity sector and think, if you want to find alternatives, or if you want to have a reliable, secure production line, you will always depend on the partners of what secretary blink and called the partners. >> the u.s. in europe have a history of using our combined

economic influence to work together to address national security risks and foreign- policy objectives. sometimes using trade tools in cooperation with each other. do you think we are in lockstep with china and where do you see differences? >> well, i think the biggest difference is probably more rhetorical than on the paper. and in reality. first of all, because the eu approaches china is a trading partner, as a competitor and a systemic rival. and i think you could use different words, different synonyms and you will find that actually this approach is not very much different. your head of national security advisor spoke about a small bank with high walls or high fences. we as well have a couple of weeks ago at the end of january,

you produced an economic securities strategy, which actually in general includes four major sectors. the semiconductors, high power computing, quantum computing, biotech. also a i. so even sector wide, we are quite close. and of course this includes making sure export control is strengthening, investment screening, starting discussions on outbound investments, how we see it in certain sectors. and even going small but very important to step further, which i'm sure the interest you

will have to witnesses well, actually looking into what we do as research projects in science. because time and research can be quite sensitive and dual use. so this, these are our approaches which i think is really quite close and we have actually a technology counsel between the eu and u.s. where we have the possibility to discuss , not only to discuss but also to compare our notes. >> professor, you served in china, anything you want to add about singapore's approach to china or cooperation with the u.s. on these issues? >> i think singapore is a small

country, obviously, we want to be friends with all countries near and far. i think that is smart. we are mindful of the sensitivities in the u.s.-china relationship. especially over trade investments and sensitive areas. i think the world has gone from one operating paradigm where it was interdependence, to one where the acutely mindful of overdependence, right, and hence now really trying to untangle some of that interdependence, to try and find ways to make your supply chains, your tribulations more robust. and that is understandable. today it is more focusing on a particular country and whether, for example, the u.s. may be over reliant on the country. i suspect in time it will not be focusing on countries but companies from that country.

whether it is operating within the country or outside of the country, and so you will have second order, secondary order, effects that will have to be's that need in the years to come. singapore is a hub for investments around the world. significant part of it comes from the u.s., as i already mentioned, from japan, the eu, and a growing number of chinese companies are also coming into singapore. and so singapore will have to be mindful of some of this sensitivity and be able to thread the needle very carefully. we still believe that we can be a place where there is cross- pollination of ideas and people , but increasingly, we must also guard against cross pollution and in areas where co-mingling should not take place, then

it's very important, i think, for singapore to ensure that there are safeguards in place where the co-mingling is going to be a separate as we can make it. >> thank you, we are coming up on the sunset review of usmca in 2026. the parties have begun conversations around that. j was saying the u.s. has issues, mexico's issues in canada has a few issues. i expect some of the issues around national security will be part of the conversation. how do you see the sunset review playing out and can you highlight some of the key things ? >> i think that usmca is a success story. and the three can tell you that. what i believe is we have to stop looking at the trees and start looking at the forest. which is the future of the u.s. and the future of the region. i'm going to give you just an

example. if you look at the production of transportation equipment, if we see manufacturing in the world, china produces 9.8% of the world transportation, which means airplanes and trains and ships and everything. u.s. produces 7.6%. so, china already passed the production in the manufacturing capacities of the u.s. but if you sum up to which produces six points 4%, and canada 2.9%, then you have 16.9%. so when north america produces 16.9%, that is much more than 9.8%. so, what we should be thinking is about the medium and long-

term view of where we want to get as a north american region. i think we are giving very strong steps toward that future with the chips and science act in the anti-inflationary act. when they are giving fiscal credits to products produced in north america. because i think the north american region has to be seen as a unit. and that means, as you said, foreign- policy and trade must be looked at not together but as one common effort. but i am really optimistic about it, i believe that share values in the fight for freedom and democracy in the world, will be led by north american

area, i'm sure it will become the most competitive region in the world. >> i know you're here in the seat watching our presidential campaign play out very closely. and of course we are watching your presidential campaign play out. are trade issues a big part of your presidential campaign? and, if so, what are the issues? >> will, in mexico, campaigns have not officially started. there are candidates in the two main forces have eight woman candidate, so we will have a woman president for the first time in history. but campaigns have not started. and, of course, trade is a very important issue. with trade with the u.s., it's about 70% of our trade. and from gdp, 80% is

manufacturing and trade. so, it's very, very important for us. >> wonderful. ambassador catalina crespo- sanch, one of the interesting approaches the biden administration has taken is to instead of negotiating traditional binding trade agreements, they are pursuing novel trade frameworks in both the pacific and our region. can you just talk about that approach? what are sort of your main ambitions for the americas partnership? and what you think of possibly using those kind of novel framework? >> interestingly enough, costa rica will be hosting, next year, the meeting of 2025, the aipac meeting. also presidential has accepted, he's going to take on a leadership role within aipac. there is a possibility, they are discussing about which

other countries are going to be out of aipac. not the only countries that are in, but there are other countries, there's a possibility of them joining. so there is a lot of interesting things happening with a pick. the -- aipac. the last meeting was november, many presidents were here, they were discussing whether the next steps are there, costa rica has two main sectors. one is the commerce and trade and the other is more kind of foreign relations. those are the two tracks that were joining. that were leading, per se. we are also leading the one on the center for excellence, which is related to the money. costa rica is going to be hosting. each country will have its own

responsibility. costa rica is hosting the center for excellence related to technology. regional center for excellence. which, as you all know probably, we do not have, even the united states, and i think that is also a problem worldwide, that there are not sufficient people with the necessary skills for technology jobs. so i think, the last number, if i'm not mistaken, there's a lack of 300,000 people in latin america with those skills. so, that regional hub, which is already moving into costa rica, and the government is taking it on, intel is helping us already, they're giving us a chunk of money to make a virtual lab, and is going to be a cloud lab, and three labs within costa rica, to the people in latin america, from mexico, from argentina, from everywhere, can go there, train, and help the region overall.

because in the u.s., there is also a lack of skills. so we are all having the same issues. so that is what, let's say, costa rica is doing with aipac. however, we also have, we see aipac as a great opportunity . when things are not as open as we wish they were, and issues related to trade, then we have to look for other venues. and i think aipac is a good other than you to start with. we will have to see how it evolves and how it actually -- we want to see results. that is what costa rica is trying to do. and i think all the other country members of aipac are looking for results. >> i have one final question for tuck yew lui and then i want to open it to the audience. i did want to get to digital trade. the role that singapore is

playing in that. your fta with chile and new zealand has become a standard for digital trade agreements. can you talk about the future of digital trade as you see it? >> maybe we take a step back and talk about the new economic architecture that is being envisioned in our part of the world in the indo pacific. you have the cp ttt, the u.s. is not present. china is knocking on the door and hoping to be admitted. you have are cp, initiated to bring together main dialogue partners in asia. and so we have china, japan, korea, australia and new zealand. the u.s. is not in it. we have the digital economy partnership you just mentioned, initiated by chile, new zealand and singapore. south korea is on the verge of

being admitted. china is knocking on the door. also candidate in costa rica. the u.s. is not in it. there is a danger that the u.s. is absent from all the economic architectures that is being developed in our part of the world. and if you then look ahead 20 or 30 years down the road, what does that for you us relations in the indo pacific? which is why singapore is so deeply invested in high-tech. the indo pacific canonic framework. because we see huge benefits for us economically because we already have financial free trade agreements but because we believe the u.s. cannot afford to be absent economically in

our part of the world. to your point, digital economy agreements, we believe that canonic agreements can be passed will be the way forward. thursday trilateral with new zealand, with chile, we have bilateral with the uk, australia, south korea. we have a clean economy agreement with australia. we believe that they're going to be benefits for some of these new agreements. particularly when it pertains to smes. which is obviously also a cause for some interesting concern within the united states. we believe that the need to work together on establishing the rules, standards, and when necessary, even the safeguards, to make sure that economy

transactions and integration can take place in a structured, rules-based manner going forward. >> great, thank you. very compelling points about you is engagement in the region. i want to ask the audience to come in with any questions. i see a question in the front table. >> i am barbara simmons, vice chair of the international law section for national bar. we are in talks with the african continental free trade area to enter into an mou. i was pleased to see that the ambassador has signed, the u.s. assigned an agreement with the african continental free trade area. a question for the ambassadors is, what you see as your short and long-term relationship with africa, acknowledging that it

is a continent, not a country, in terms of trade and how that serves as a foreign-policy approach? >> jovita neliupsiene, do you want to take that? >> thank you for the question. it's not really a secret, but you consider south africa as the neighbor, and the relations are for quite some time, has been very stable. but of course we're talking about a continent. so there are security issues, questions about democracy, and rule of law. but you is the biggest contributor for the international partnership. and in other words, developing. and i think that actually really paves the way for the bigger trade or more broader trade relations. there is another huge project

which actually eu is changing the mindset and moving on, the global gateway. the huge project which is supposed to encourage ships, the only government to government but also private business and financial institutions, to partnership in the huge infrastructure, first of all, which may then pave the way for the really more favorable trade and commerce relations. so i think if it works, we would be in an absolutely different future of our commercial relations in three to five years. >> other questions? >> hi, doug palmer with

political. this is for the mexican ambassador, actually, i had gotten an email just the other day from a reader asking me if i had heard about a rumor that the mexican government was going to put forward an executive order to increase tariffs. i hadn't heard about it. but here i am today, and i thought i would take the opportunity to ask you, is there some new mexican government tariff action coming down the pike? >> not that i know of. >> [ laughter ] >> here we go. >> thank you, i have two questions. we talked about elections and

we talked about tariffs. i just wanted to ask you, when former president trump was the nomination, when he talks about 60% tariffs, nato is not an ally, how do you view that? are you already thinking about how you will deal with the tariffs if they come into place, and how tariffs, like those, actually impact what we are talking about is trade foreign-policy? i have a specific question for the ambassador from singapore. he talked about chinese companies coming to singapore and recently, we saw one of those is tiktok, and we saw the ceo being grilled, some of the questions being asked were, singaporeans thought were racist. how does grilling questions like that impact talking about trade and foreign policy, if

someone from singapore is repeatedly asked if he works for the chinese communist party? thank you. >> you want to take the 10% impact of 10% tariffs? you got easy with those questions. what is the impact of 10%? >> that would be very, very -- it will hinder the whole relationship because it's against free-trade. and it's against the north american region. what i truly believe is that the future of mexico and the united states is to become allies and really work together in a higher view about the world's development. because, we are not just sharing goods and services. we are sharing also values. and when you start taking down the foundations of free trade, which is the one that put us in this condition to work together, i think that is not a

very good idea. >> anything to add on tiktok? >> we know the senator had visited singapore. we hold him in high regard. think we have also got to see the line of questioning he took in the remarks he made subsequently from two angles. one of course is election season , and they have a domestic audience that they need to be able to not only understand the concerns and sensitivities, but also to find ways to address them. right? so that is one part of it. two, i think it reflects some of the deep-seated concerns that the u.s. may have over trade relations of china, over companies in china, whether in

china itself or coming out of china, that would hold a significant amount of data, possibly even sensitive data of us citizens. so there is sort of, i would say, something that could be understood, something that can be appreciated. i think, though, a line of question taken too far can sometimes possibly undermine the image and understanding of how the u.s. is viewed in different parts of the world. not just in asia, not necessarily only in singapore. so there is, i think, a fine balance the needs to be struck between some of the security sensitivities and also the overall image and impression that the u.s. would want to continue project and portray to the rest of the world.

>> i think we have time for one more. yes come in the back. >> thank you. i am a georgetown law, have a question for the ambassador from singapore. you are listing the free-trade agreements of asia right now and you are saying how the u.s. is not part of it or not even knocking on the door. whereas china is. i was wondering, it seems like china wants to get in, so this position of will kind of compromise, kind of concessions are the other countries that are already part of these agreements asking from china, or is there a position where you can ask for something, kind of concessions, and can the u.s. or other regions learned from that or use that as well? >> will, i will say i am

obviously not privy to the discussions that are taking place. that is eight session working group started for china, and for canada, on the digital economy partnership agreement. and the one for china is chaired by chile, we haven't gotten to that stage yet. but, across both of these agreements is the need for consensus by all current members to accept a new member, and that consensus was built on top of, number one, and assurance that an applicant can fully meet the standards and, number two, the members are convinced that the applicant will faithfully abide. we

believe those are standards we will not compromise on, and discussions with any particular applicant, i think it is for the working groups to deal with. >> thank you. the panel before us, spoke can i just add one sentence, it is very good, of course, to have a regional agreement, especially having in mind the topics which go beyond any single continent, like e-commerce or digital trade. but i do believe, we have really to be sure as a like- minded countries here sharing the same values, that the most important format for having a global format is actually wto. if we don't manage to do all of us, then it should be

multilateral. and i think everyone has to be on board, and i think that if there are like-minded countries that can set some standards for that, we will be all better off . and hopefully the u.s. will actively join on that as well. >> thank you, i'm going to give you the last word. thank you all for joining and thank you for having us. >> thank you all for having us. thank you, ambassadors. >> on thursday, interior secretary testifies on the president's budget request for her agency. watch the hearing, live, at 10:00 eastern on c-span three. c-span now, are free and mobile video app or online. c-span.org. >> do you solemnly swear that in the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the

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