A Look Back at 2022: The Promise and Impact of Commercial Diplomacy

2022 was a banner year for the Economic Bureau’s Office of Commercial and Business Affairs (CBA). Immediately after I joined the State Department as Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs, Russia’s brutal invasion added bolstering Ukraine’s sovereignty and supporting the Ukrainian people to the very top of the administration’s priorities – a list that already included addressing energy, climate, post-pandemic supply chain, and economic and security challenges around the world. Working closely with our commercial and economic diplomats in the field and inter-agency partners, my team at CBA and I immediately arranged for the Secretary to hear from and further mobilize the U.S. private sector’s support for Ukraine, including commercial finance and banking services that enabled the country to continue functioning.

Swift and unprecedented support offered by the U.S. private sector for Ukraine demonstrated the transformative power of U.S. companies during times of international upheaval, and their ability to act as a force for good in the world. By December, CBA had engaged more than 200 U.S. businesses and organizations on topics as varied as defense equipment procurement, 3D concrete printing for forward military bases, training Ukrainian engineers to repair critical infrastructure, and in-kind contributions for refugees.

CBA was uniquely positioned to support private sector led solutions in Ukraine and elsewhere as we connected with host country officials to advocate on behalf of America’s businesses. Even the most established U.S. companies, much less small and medium-sized businesses, need help overcoming obstacles while doing business abroad. To advance progress where our companies faced uneven regulatory and tax requirements, lack of access to information, export challenges, poor intellectual property protections, or host country delays, CBA coordinated with U.S. missions, federal, and sub-national partners to help level the field.    

Throughout 2022, working in coordination with interagency partners, CBA helped U.S. businesses understand host country dynamics, connect to U.S. mission teams, and advance commercial investments across the globe. Our commercial diplomacy efforts became foreign policy success, including direct engagements in 10 countries and five multilateral summits, as well as eight mission-led Direct Line engagements, support arrangements at 67 Partner Posts, and $650,000 in funding for 82 commercial facilitation projects under our Business Investment Facilitation Fund (BFIF).

Helping U.S. companies compete and win abroad directly supports President Biden’s Foreign Policy for the Middle Class agenda through job creation at home. In 2022, 15 commercial deals worth over $89 billion were advanced by CBA in close partnership with the Department of Commerce’s Advocacy Center. On the defense side, we helped facilitate 17 wins generating over $11 billion in U.S. export content. These commercial and defense deals have the potential to create hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs in communities across America. 
 
Even as we remain focused on helping experienced U.S. businesses compete abroad, we’re continually demonstrating our support for entrepreneurs – at home and abroad – who will create the next generation of game-changing products that will shape our future and tackle global challenges. At numerous forums, including the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) pitch competition in Tokyo, Boise Entrepreneur Week, and engagements with leaders in Atlanta, I spoke about the dynamism and ingenuity of America’s entrepreneurs, offered advice, and raised awareness of government-wide support. We especially focused on democratizing access to State Department’s commercial programs to founders and innovators in underserved communities and regions.

Direct engagement with senior officials plays a key role in our work at CBA. I had bilateral meetings with 56 senior foreign government officials to advance U.S. commercial interests in 2022 and led the U.S.-UAE and the U.S.-Bahrain Economic Dialogues. While on travel in Algeria, we advocated for the implementation of an improved foreign direct investment law, in Pakistan we advocated reform of GMO restrictions that hamper post-flood recovery in the agricultural sector, and in Egypt we highlighted how an export letter of credit regulation was negatively impacting U.S. businesses. At the Africa Leaders Summit, we advocated for more than $1 billion in U.S. business opportunities. I am following up with a trip that will include a focus on tech talent and entrepreneurship in Africa early this year. At APEC in Thailand, we set the stage to advance a focused private sector-led trade and investment strategy as we gear up to host 21 APEC economies from across the Pacific Rim in San Francisco and Detroit in 2023. 
 
As we reflect on how to further advance CBA’s work in 2023, I am grateful for the support we received throughout the Department – from Secretary Blinken, Undersecretary Fernandez, and Assistant Secretary Toloui, to our ambassadors and senior officials across close to 60 Missions with whom I had the pleasure to meet and collaborate. Together with our partners at the Department of Commerce and across the interagency, I look forward to continuing to put commercial advocacy and diplomacy at the center of our economic policy with partners and allies around the world.