stakeholders discuss us-japan economic relations, community development and infrastructure developments at an event hosted by the hudson institute. it's about an hour. thanks again for joining us for this wonderful conference on economic relations and obviously we have a terrific conversation led on u.s. japanese opportunities. as you are digging through your lunch boxes i welcome everyone to the panel on the foreign investment in the u.s. market and its impact going forward.

for me this is a personal panel for me proposed were experts in the market and sort of a homecoming. i guess we will jump straight into opening remarks for introduction. the japanese government in the cabinet and economy trade and industry serving in trade, peenergy and regional economy to japan. previously as the economic counselor of the embassy in 2007 and 2010.

hello, everyone. thank you for coming here today and having me. i'm going to share my view and information about how the japanese companies are doing in the context. i would like to start with the investment. among that, the u.s. has the

largest for 43.5%, whereas the eu accounts for only 16%. for the u.s., japan is the largest for investment. as t the scale indicates the contribution of the companies to the u.s. economy the japanese manufacturers in the u.s. created more than 530,000 jobs. first among all investing in the u.s. and also japanese companies in the u.s.es accounts for more than 4% of all u.s. exports.

so now you remember the comments from the governor earlier. to give you an idea, looking at the breakdown industry the manufacturing sector dominates according to 45% and it's just under 10%, the second largest outside of manufacturing trade and finance. within the chemical sector, investments are expected to be significant and boosting

investments in the u.s. the group announced innovative research policy in january, 2023 by establishing the base in the ecosystem, affiliated hospitals and venture companies in the states that aims to accelerate and diversify research. in may, 2023 with a view of obtaining. the company said it is creating and this is an important step in that direction. in the industry it is

stimulating investment in the u.s. several japanese companies have received -- for instance, they held a groundbreaking ceremony for a facility in arizona. the plan is expected to become the center of the company in the u.s. and it would also be used as a new development base. related investments especially are flourishing. suppliers with related investments are written by increasing investments by the

oef.f. in addition dave recycled in the business and are back for demand. there may have been a u.s. recycling company. the investments are expected to be by the end of the weekend, policies of the biden administration. i understand the administration madede the industry policy rootd to strengthen supply-chain issued in 2021. this executive order the ten areas that are important for national security and pharmaceuticals, semi conductors, all include in this list encouraging investment and that they get the initiative to

help the development for the domestic biotechnology. for ev, cut back. encouraging investment to the u.s. they are likelyap to see te situation as an opportunity expanding however one of the questions. the japanese firms say that they are making midterm plans assuming there will be subsidies from ira. so in particular, most of the banks in the ime our climate change measures and there are several policies expressing concern about the future.

japanese companies in the u.s. among the biden administration's policies, climate change majors such as ira have the impact. moving into wind and solar power generation and investments in renewable energies are likely to be large so this would be affected by the policy of self. even for investments there are concerns that demand. to become even more important in ensuring the predictability will be important as the u.s. is consistently attracting the investment in the future. otherut challenges for the companies investing in the u.s. is that we send different rules from state to state.

as noted at the beginning of my remarks, japan is a large investor in terms of the amount of the investment but also in terms of the number of companies. japan ranked in the top three in all 50 states among all foreign investor countries. furthermore, it is wrapped, the rules vary from state to state such as policies and reproductive freedoms can become a cost of doing business for japanese companies. at the eurasia company, the eurasia groups risk of 2024 pointed out as a risk for japan. i understand it is not

practical. they have a culture of creating their employees like family. therefore creating investment friendly environments for our japanese companies would be a win-win situation. to strengthen the relations through the investment this has been recently supporting japanesepa startups. we bring selective startups and create opportunities to visit incubation facilities and have a networking with ventureit capitalists and the u.s. startups. furthermore, a business platform for the creation and overseas startups. we believe they have innovation.

it will build more multilayered, economic. >> i do expect the corporation will expand. in that context i would like to finally mention the investment in japan, so we looked at the big investment from japan to the u.s. but compared to that, the events from the u.s. to japan i would like to encourage u.s. business companies to give more

in japan. investment in japan is for market opportunities for technology corporations. unlike the investment in the developing countries, is not a orientation of stealing the jobs from the u.s. i think in light of those as well i would write. thatav is what i have to say so thank you very much for your attention. [applause] >> thank you for your wonderful comments. i apologize i think in the excitement toap kick off the pal i forgot to introduce myself. i'm the chair follow here at the hudson institute and i'm pleased

tose introduce the next speaker speaker ofthe general directorae automobile manufacturers association usa. before taking up her position in mayy of 2022, she worked on the u.s. for nearly 20 years in the government and regulatory affairs and was most recently the manager of government affairs with government industry relations department before taking up her position. she has an ma from george mason and georgetown so she's always been in dc and was born and raised in new jersey.

>> thank you to the hudson institute for hosting this conference and an important panel. i guess i'm a bit of a case study on the panel for japanese brand automakers, a prime example of how with steep commitment to the market its workforce and its communities can result with decades of success and in my case this is over 40 years in the making and one that is still being written today. members success not only benefited those they directly employee about their investment

including dealer, supplier and service job. this is also a story of commitment. a lot has happened in this country the past four plus decades whether it's policy changes, economic downturn, heightened political tensions and of course the pandemic. the japanese brand automakers investments have not diminished with these challenges. it's reached an all-time high of $61.6 billion in 2023. total direct employment rose to over 109,000. this is incredible but not one every what he knows and this might be a reflection of the

members success. as the japanese brand automakers have grown and strengthened and become a seamless part of the american landscape and while the positive members such as the billions of dollars invested across the u.s. may grab headlines as they should and continue to contribute to the u.s. beyond these numbers should also receive a spotlight. 2 million in grants right nowito help prepare students in north carolina and stem careers. these are in and around where

they first got the manufacturing plant in 2025. another manufacturing facility is moving towards completion with a goal of starting production in 2025 and that is the energy solution joint venture. it's part of the larger hub from the existing facilities in ohio as the transition to the electric vehicle production. an example of the partnership and this one is long-standing and has touched many lives. this one has an 18 year partnership with habitat for humanity. during this time employees volunteered t over 112,000 hours and has helped build homes for over 300 families and communities near the major manufacturing and operational

location.ia the established leader among the. with a long-term partnership with support in southern california came continues to be addressed through it. keeping the spotlight local, there is a key manatee utility vehicle where the company offers vehicle loans to not profit organizations. to us theses, details are what helped us find. with ofrs the impact on communities and workforce in the

areas of electrification, innovation, safety and sustainability we are confident that in telling our story there are those who may be critical and it will be reminded of the possibilities and opportunities that are generated when it's people centric, long-term and focused on meaningfulic partnerships about. >> speaking of someone that was generously sponsored by honda, i have an experience of the generosity of the. finally, as an adjunct fellow at

hudson the work focuses on trade policy in the relations and has been the author of three books including u.s. policy. for any. >> please watch out for the polls and analysis. the podium is yours. >> thank you. i would also point out that like anita i'm from new jersey.

you have the connection going forward but i want to talk to you today about ohio. a little bit of a push back. wee think we can make that argument but i want to talk about the direct investment and politics and economics. it's always dangerous when you give a college professor a microphone and a podium with limited time to speak, but i will go up. ohio has a long-standing relationship with japan probably the longest of any state and it's not a just honda, in the 1980s it goes all the way back to the turn of the last century.

we produce howard. the result of president taft's relationship with japan it was multifaceted and went back to his time. memorandum that goes in and he was celebrated. the longest-serving ambassador wasro from ohio and wrote the 1h amendment the most important to the constitution. then he a goes on to serve again for 12 years so we have a long-standing relationship of

course when it was a time of great economic and political tension between japan and the united states is very significant, but it's not just honda. the direct investments in ohio is almost unbelievable, almost 900 a japanese owned facilities in ohio, 220 individual companies more than 70,000 ohioans are employed by japanese companies. it's not just honda it's also bridgestone that has a relationship with japan and japanese politics. i was in tokyo for the year.

in augustof of 2009. now the company is headquartered in tokyo and is directly tied to family money. it was another time of tension between the united states and japan over the basis you also had dive members traveling to beijing to meet with. i think we forget that sometimes

with the window becoming so strong between the united states and japan the reason i bring that up is these relationships need to be nurtured over time and fbi contributes to the development and nurturing of these relationships and plays into politics. it is stunning with the dupont steel deal and we will go out together but it's something that i think is behind a lot of our discussions today with tint within opposition to the acquisition of u.s. steel and

sherrod brown. the other senator i want to talk about that a little bit. you understand where it's coming from and perhaps economics and politics arere related but they sometimes point us ind different directions. talking about dupont steel and without giving a lecture we call ohio the heart of it all because it looks like a hard but it's better off to think of ohio as a

big square and if you look at theif upper right quadrant o ohio. that area used to be democratic and if you look at the results in 2008 and 2012 and 2016 things changed and the area that changed was that upper right corner off ohio. what cities are up there and one is the city that i teach in, a significant city is youngstown ohio. we look at a county map and a suddenly these democratic voters i will tell you as a political

analyst we were all stunned. the republican party did not exist and that part of ohio. the person who hired me to teach was the former chair of the local republican party and he used to joke that they could make a phone booth because it really didn't exist. it became democratic in the 1930s under roosevelt and it was labor that both the democratic party. with steel game american labor unions and brought the democratic party in. what's happening since the 1970s and 80s there is no more steel made.

there is a facility that took over the old property. when she won the national purchase prize for me we are part of that original but an example of fdi so both senators are aware that ground zero in ohio politics is the northeast corner. steel had almost a mythical significance even though we don't produce much anymore it's sort of the legacy of it.

despite the fact they are benefiting from japanese investments. you have a joint venture between south korea and general motors. there is more than 120 companies up in that area, japanese companies that employee people so you have all these jobs created but the politics doesn't

work, so what can we do about it to change this? we need to speak to voters. the governor clearly understood the value of japanese foreign direct investment if you spoke to the governor of ohio he would give a very similar talk. elites understand them, but the people that don't necessarily are the voters into voters matters so we need to get the message out. japanese companies tend to be very quiet as they do business. people don't know the companies are there so many transparency about the santa to focus a little more on education. the governor also talked about education.

we need to educate our citizens and to do more cultural do moreg for example to understand asia in general. i remember speaking to a member of congress and we were talking about this and one of the things she told me she said the difficulty is voters don't make distinctions between countries in east asia, and ohio. they don't know china and japan and korea are different places with different histories. i know this is disturbing to hear but we need that basic level of education. exchange programs, we need more japanese students.

they go to california or to massachusetts or new york, they never get beyond the coast, that's how we can get beyond this. i think we need to get a little bit more active in these areas. thank you. [applause] i'm m going to ask a few questions. feel free to jump in at

any ti time. we heard from the governor today and i think increasingly it's recognized they take a regional approach towards so what is the role in this area in terms of the need for greater outreach and in terms of both regional and state approaches into the public outreach approach. >> thank you for the question. i agree with you for the purview of the state government it is

important to strengthen their relationships with them so there hirono 2017 the activities are aimed at strengthening relations with the governors and three individual meetings or roundtable discussions it's been conveyed to the local economy so a number ofes job creations and this way to the creative investments and environment for the companies. of the investment mission for the japanese governments to support investments inja the u.. that focus on specific states and industries working together with a state government to

support the investment in the u.s. for example on the specializing the semi conductors with of the state of new york in 2023. in terms of public relations we are aware of that importance as well so trying to build a page for everything available for as many people as possible. given the nature of the mission to promote trade in investments i think in many cases they are business people. we are more. but very interested and we are

trying to make it as user-friendly as possible. also, is there a nice brochure? it's easy to look at and reference. we are always happy to share your information with them. >> if i may ask a quick follow-up. what has always struck me was the presence across the u.s. and obviously in atlanta, chicago, houston, la, san francisco, what role do these more regional offices play in sort of the larger mission that you are trying to accomplish? with state governments the

principle of p the division of labor is the geographical so for example in my office around the northeastern corner and along california so each covers its own geographical areas which could mean it is responsible for communicating with the state government or municipal government which looks okay in those regions. if you don't mind i will ask you the next question. it's about worker training. from shipbuilding to semi conductorsct many firms had a lk of sufficiently trained and

skilled workers and certainly we can talk about this in the previous panel. do they face similar challenges and what steps are they taking to address the skills shortages and how might that benefit the united states as a whole in the process? process? >> so, first of all, our members are our major job creators across the u.s. as i mentioned, i directly support thousands of careers and befitting a 21st century workforce. as noted in my remarks earlier, these investments also support millions of other jobs. again the dealers applied jobs. i can't talk enough about this record high investment in 2023.

that is something i will mention again because this was as the japanese brand continues to expand and modernize these facilities. so it's constantly evolving and the companies. but with that said, the operation faces many of the same challenges you mentioned so we continue to work with state and local government and industry partners to address these challenges and as far as what they do in the u.s. on their own, generally speaking they take a long-term approach when it comes to developing the u.s. workforce. so, for example in an effort to create the workforce pipeline, the automakers engage, for example children and young adults, by supporting education and learning programs.

so come in this way the japanese ran auto manufacturers are the future of the workforce programs whether those that are participating if they go on to actually work on the japanese run automakers but it's to inspire them to join the field and advanced manufacturing and be prepared for the jobs of tomorrow. i can add all sorts of examples of workforce development, and that is where the true partnerships in the communities are. for example the private public partnership between nissan and the state of tennessee. the tennessee technology and at the centers in 2017.

another example is the industry and the training program between the community colleges, vocational schools and toyota and lexus dealership. the list goes on. there's subaru as mentioned before with the partnership and the offeror joint education program nears manufacturing facility in partnership with local universities, so it allows the students to work at the facility while also earning a degree and often sponsored actually. one a final note and this is where it comes back to the next generation and on a personal note my office we had a chance to travel to not only the first automotive plant in the u.s. in

marysville but also a chance to see how they work with the community, so we visited the industries and this particular exhibit is the innovator's exhibit and it's sponsored by honda where children can explore careers and when we walked through there, you could see there were little biographies and it really brought to life stories of engineers that worked throughout the facilities and what they do in a simple terms and it was very interactive. as we were there, the children were engaged but importantly, parents were engaged. so, those are both part of the equation. >> during my time in columbus,

it isn't may be worth the trip itself but maybe a tour of the factory it turns out to be a fun weekend i'm sure. okay, paul. i guess i'm going to throw you the next question. speaking of workers, what is the view of industrial workers especially in ohio words foreign investments? speaking from my own research on the auto industry in the 80s, the uaw was agnostic whether the auto plant was gm or toyota as long as the members had a jobs. any difference between the u.s. and japanese owned companies and i guess if it's not true, what chance do we have in the polarized american society? >> i'm not sure if that is true

anymore as it once was but there is the presumption now among at least the leadership perhaps not so much the rank and file and one of the things that is interesting to look at is the differences between what their e rank and file think and what the leadership thinks because sometimes it isn't exactly the same thing. but at least there's a perception, there's the southern strategy now, the auto workers union is taking to try to unionize the plants in the south and they see some hostility and i think the fact that a lot of these foreign automakers have located in the right to work states, states with more difficult means to organize have given some resistance to the foreign automakers and i think that is what is feeding into some of the animosity between the steelworkers and it's just sort of a suspicion about the

companies and how they look upon unions, so this is definitely in play. but to go to your last point about the partisan politics and whether we can do anything to kind of overcome this, i think we can. we are already seeing it in the part of ohio that i live now with a lot more foreign direct investment coming in and people starting to recognize it and you're seeing other things develop around that, some partnerships between the universities and these companies, so workers want jobs. they don't always care where those jobs come from with the exception that they don't want them to come from china. there is that the political angle to it now but as long as it's not china i think the workers are happy with it but again to go back to my original point, we just need to make them

kind of more aware of it because even up in northeast ohio where we are seeing this now, people i think are not completely perceiving the change and what's going on. >> i think the politics are going to change as we see the supply chains that go along with these places and with the supply chains we are bringing in different and more people into the area, people in different parts of the country and the world. that there is a real effort. they call it repopulation. they are trying to bring them back in again making it friendly for people both internationally and domestically to come to these areas and work for these companies often times that are foreign companies for the most part not u.s. companies. almost all the jobs and growth is a result of the foreign direct investment and not domestic companies coming in. so i think you're starting to see that. you have a message you just have to deliver it.

>> on that message i think it is also important who delivers the message. just on another trip we took out to indiana and hearing from the person that runs the training, he mentioned that he did not have a college degree, but he said through the opportunity that he has been provided he is pretty close to retirement and is going to be comfortable, and it was a when you receive that you could tell there was a lot of pride and a lot of peace on the road ahead, so i think who delivers that message can determine how it designates. >> we will talk to you more about that. about my final question before i throw it to the audience -- this is the elephant in the room we

have to talk about -- but anita, for u.s. steel into the political response that we have seen in the united states, how are you communicating these developments with your members? how might it impact their views on the u.s. investment destination, and certainly the president of the auto alliance innovation came out very strongly against blocking the deal. how does that also shape the members as well? >> thank you for asking. first of all, not in the position to comment on the investment of that individual company. in general, programs i would like to call the points made

during, but many speakers [inaudible] the people further understand the contribution made by japanese companies investments to the u.s. economy and suggest job creation and so on so that's what i hope and perhaps with the comments you made. >> like everyone else, taking note of how this is going to play out, and you mentioned another organization but from our perspective as an organization representing the japan-based automakers, there is clearly a lot of domestic politics at play especially this

year into thorough detail about that, notably this issue has garnered bipartisan criticism. with that said, the current administration has welcomed and has been committed to open investment. and broadly speaking, remains largely positive. it's a good thing. and typically, it's something that doesn't implicate the sharing with adversarial governments or involve national security issues. so, we should continue to amplify the significant investments from japan made here in the u.s. and the close ties that exist between the two countries. as for our members, their focus is on the billions of dollars invested in the u.s. with of the people centered and long-term vision for growth. >> let's take some questions

from the audience. we might have time for two and obviously please identify yourself when you ask a question otherwise i'm going to be asking more questions. i guess i'm going to ask more questions than. >> senior fellow here. thank you all. it's been a wonderful conversation. obviously i think there's a lot of discussion around how politics intersects with the true economics and i think much of the discussion is highlighting the benefits of both the direct investments and how it affects the economy in a way that affects politics as well and certainly helps bridge

some of the geopolitics. my question is obviously the prime minister is visiting next week and one of the messages he will be delivering is the strong connection between the united states and japan both politically, militarily, security and economics. and so, maybe if you indulge me, what are some of the things you perhaps like him to actually talk about as he delivers his message of this continuing partnership? >> thank you for the question. i certainly welcome and this is a great opportunity and i look forward to what will happen in that meeting. to your point, i don't have any specifics that i would like to

see, but i can say that by the economic relationships between the two countries, it's very good right now so we see a good amount of investment from japan to this country and there's a good appetite of the japanese business community to come here, so if you ask the survey, we asked the japanese companies which country is going to be the next destination, so the u.s. is the number one right now. so, there's a very good atmosphere in the business circle between japan and the u.s. we would like to see that continue, and i understand

behind that good atmosphere there is a political or diplomatic good relationship between the two countries, so economic partnership is on the foundation of political stability and i look forward to seeing the states visit and the opportunities to further continue this type of atmosphere. >> anyone else? >> well, i think we've also been talking a lot about growing investment and i think to underscore that and also to underscore the numbers are important, but as i mentioned this is good quality and what that means, and a part of it is

also bolstering the u.s. economic competitiveness as well. >> to add to that, climate would be something that would emphasize. a lot of japanese companies are very concerned with climate change and are very environmentally friendly, and it is that type of technology they are able to bring to the united states, so this may be a way of bridging political difficulties to emphasize that role of sort of climbing innovation from japanese companies and being part of the more direct investments. >> certainly that is an argument that has been made in their own pitch to buy u.s. steel. let's take one final question from the gentleman right here. >> thank you. thank you for mentioning my

investment. this question might be difficult but i would like to ask if you are having dupont steel, what has been your alibi to them before they announce a deal? >> to clarify, is it to go back in time before -- >> before the announcement of the deal, what would be your advice to get it done more smoothly? >> in addition to playing the lottery first.

3 billion i think right now. if anyone would like to take this? >> perhaps more of an outreach to the steelworkers ahead of time because that's become one of the major hitches in this and the steelworkers have been quite explicit about this that they want to be consulted before the process went forward, so being more transparent about their intentions i think with the steelworkers informing that foundation first might have been a way of smoothing things out a little bit. i can't underscore more how much community outreach is important. it's important, it is a key thing to do when you enter into the market. you have to know who will potentially work for you and you

have to know who will be your neighbor, so outreach. >> if you want to take this. >> i don't have any specific alibi. i just hope that making sure having the necessary communication is very important and to make sure who is concerned about what and put outreach to those people as much as possible. >> thank you.

we have seen from the us-japan relationship it remains strong. economics is a major portion of it and i hope that we can continue to find better ways to build our future together in terms of us-japan relations with large. i'd like to thank the panelists for sharing their thoughts and thank you all for sharing your time with us. thank you. [applause]