Minutes. [applause] a huge thanks to our markable Strategy GroupTeam Including emmanuel, Deb Cunningham so many others, thank you all of the time you put into preparing for this summit. [applause] thank you also to the trustees who are so supportive of this work and in particular, james harmon and board chair thank you to our trustee, 82 years ago today japan attacked the u. S. Naval base at pearl harbor. During the United States into what would become the deadliest war in human history. Terrorism, we are today, live in a tumultuous era bearing witness to the evils of holocaust to Nuclear Devastation and proliferation and the cold war. Brought about numerous geopolitical paradigm shift. The American Leadership in the world on behalf of freedom and democracy and human dignity. From the ferment of those transformational times, the founding of many of todays Civil Societies and social progress and human dignity, igniting potential to build understanding and promote possibilities for a better world. Founders were here id in their understanding democracy and Free Enterprise and military strength intertwined strands of one great court and they were truly monistic in their belief and philosophical inquiry, open dialogue, diplomacy and innovation, value based leadership would be the glue of the strong adoptable democracy. In pursuit of our purpose a Strategy Group hold this form twice a year here to identify and address greatest challenges facing the u. S. And the world and in these times they are all interconnected. Thirteen has displayed remarkable forms to connect the dots chair and were in the middle east. Climate crisis, artificial intelligence. Each of these requires human intelligence of the highest order especially American Leadership in american democracy meets the emerging test before. Government and military leadership of the private sector and the media. I especially like to think members of our Armed Services who live there in the constitution everyday and a powerful reminder the differences between open society and the capitalism we have in our adversaries and i like to think with deep respect, journalist taking part today and the role they play in forming difficult issues and we hope you learn from this discussion and thank you for being here. It is executive director to introduce our speakers. [applause] welcome to all of you here. It is good to see familiar faces and those with us last summer and a few months ago we made it our collective goal to use our imagination and look over the horizon and those challenges right in front of us. Jointly create a more optimistic future. We shook up outdated assumptions about africa, relationship with china. Former deputy Prime Minister told us we were entering a middle east and president zelenskyy said to us with americas help ukraine will win. In spectacular fashion, the world had other plans. It is very difficult the last few months and i want to speak gratitude to friends of ours working tirelessly everyday for allied partnered government and those involved, thank you for the hard work you are doing. Peace and democracy seems to be on the back foot under attack all the more reason to double our efforts. One of my favorite things of doctor kinzinger rightfully eulogized in the past few days, a statement duty is to bridge the gap between the nations experience in a better fishing. Thats exactly what we strive to do your we are setting up a more positive vision and strategy concrete needs to meet it. To do that we have an incredible lineup for you all today so we are going to hear from the nations best and brightest, your military leaders, members of congress and hear from the brandnew foreign secretary United Kingdom will hear from egyptian foreign ministry, the u. S. Trade representative john feiner, john podesta, and newberger and others and we will cover the gamut of challenges that face us here in the United States and beyond and look further out and see how we can solve these problems and rightly filled a better future. I want to thank the whole team and our small but mighty team, all of the folks behind the scene, it would not be possible without them wouldnt be possible without wonderful sponsors, google, mastercard, microsoft, the Rockefeller Foundation and so many others. Its my pleasure to welcome on stage michelle, courtney to kick us off with one of the most important topics, how to get our armed forces of technology and innovation we need, thank you all for being here. [applause] thank you all for being here, i am thrilled to see so many people here today. Until dans opening remarks it hadnt occurred to me the date today, the anniversary of pearl harbor and it is so appropriate we are beginning the forum today on anniversary with a session about future challenges and the need for u. S. Military and government to transform challenges especially when you look back and think about the fact that how much this nation this military, this world has changed so we have a tremendous group to talk about this, the director of the unit senior advisor. I have my list. Managing partner under secretary of defense for policy in general and i have a feeling will be online. You want to talk about these challenges but because we are the first challenge, a list to hold on most of the nominations these last several months while they happen held up, and impact on this. I am grateful complex, located world and many have talked about them in this decade and in the next one to two years so you want us back in the business, leaders in the right places and getting after the secretary and the president. It has impacted that, a lot of folks acting in positions but not able to make these for five or ten years out, it is important everybody in this room, you know having a vision is important so we are back to that and we are grateful so there is still work to do and they are being held up. I would say on the family front that i hope is been hurt by everybody in the room, a tremendous impact in a bad way. You think about families that think theyre going to move, friends to leave and friends to make and they would have employment it has been hard for families and that thankfully will be able to get back in there is still work to do but we can get back to doing the business to defend the nation. I want to talk about current challenges, one of the biggest threats . Told me i can tell some jokes. You can tell some jokes, believe me. What are some right now . Before i talk about threats and i will talk to you if you are okay, i will hit that to do that special Operations Command, it is an opportunity, global combatant command that has the opportunity the world on any given day through the eyes of 6000 team mates in 80 countries across the world, a small part of the 70000 Army Navy Air force marine and space force special operations and i think they have the opportunity because they worked in many domains, space and cyber domain to see the world as i like to see it from fiber to fiber, a good topic on the things that i will tell you we are seeing. We see the prc compete globally in this world not only bound we have had the chance recently to travel to south america and africa and wielding elements of the dramatic economic and some level of information, probably more the military peace in the indo pacific. We are seeing russia not just bound to ukraine and the travesties there and unfortunate events, ukrainian people but also other parts of europe as we know as well africa north and west and we were glad to see that looks like where russia appears through its paramilitary defense. We also see russia so they are not down to the european continent competing the tabla and violent extremism. Isis, al qaeda each day looks to be gained of putting even though theres a lot of work done not only in special operations but the whole of partners and allies with those Networks Keep them at bay and commented partners and allies looking to regain that each and every day. They desire thats been contained, the ideology is unconstrained and runs rampant through the internet and last through the interest of time, the world votes, here comes another crisis and top of mind is whats gone with hamas and israel and the world is extremely busy not only that but across the world to address this and Operations Command as well but even before we had diplomats in the United States and partners and allies under addressed a lot of work to do. Last i will talk to the panel queasy the proliferation of drones and most may go right to them, they are getting, loitering and becoming many of many when you have the economy do it in receipt robotics in a way that a landbased drone, we see them in maritime and inservice face. Artificial intelligence i try to check these questions, chat gpt and the perplexity it didnt come up with any good jokes but that is both in advance, we harness that and make decisions faster and grab maybe adverse about. Ill just end with the arrival of smart cities, pressure devices and sensors and it is being connected and is either a challenge against us, something we should harness. I think they were more happy to see me. Not true. It seemed a number of different threats, what policy makers see as a threat and what did they do to address these . I think the challenge is volatility such that even though the strategy deterring china as a pacing threat, we got russia continue aggression against ukraine, we now have an explosive situation between hamas and israel in the middle east and potential escalation to a larger conflict and counterterrorism operation, many things that calling attention to here and now because of the stakes involved in partners and allies but at the same time the department we have to be able to keep our eyes and focus on the most consequential threat in my view preventing with china whether its over taiwan or Something Else and we know xi jinping is interested in integrating taiwan into Greater China on his watch, we know he prefers political and economic coercion to achieve that objective as an hong kong but we also know hes instructed military to have options ready by 2027 so we need to be able to anticipate potential test of our ability to deter and that timeframe. That is really driving the pentagon a lot of leadership effort to first of all, sat with our allies so the work in the water, deepening relationship with japan, korea, philippines and other allies and partners, all medical but its also put a premium on accelerating the adoption of Innovative Technologies, integration into the legacy force and that will be critical to passing that deterrence test if he thinks about using force with enough challenges that he says not today so i know we will talk a lot about technology pieces but i want to put a pin on another key issue not getting enough attention and that is human capital. We got to transform our workforce. Im not suggesting the pentagon become a Major Technology developer, i am suggesting we need to enhance a. I. Literacy so you can have the pentagon and dod personnel evaluators, smart dictators and tests and evaluators of technology, smart users of technology and overseers so we have to increase tech and a. I. Literacy of the department, a lot of great ideas to do that whether it is making better use of the talent we have giving tech competent people in the military and Civil Service career paths to home that and make larger contributions or bring in new talent to the pipeline whether we have a problem in this country at college is affordable. What if we offer additional digital reserve corps to tapping to the wonderful talent in the ecosystem . There are very straightforward answers to bring the talent we need, it has to be a whole of nation effort in this opposition. Ill stop there but i hope we get to the allies and workforce peace, not just the technology piece which is critical but you have to build, you have to work on all foundations that are going to allow us to keep our edge. You can cap. [applause] you can clap after every answer. Michelle mentioned innovatio. Michelle mentioned adoption of Innovative Technologies and you saw the Department Efforts to speed up the adoption of commercial technology and i wonder, where has innovation been on threats we hear about here and where is the i you taking innovation right now . First of all, it has to be a here and im great to be appear with great friends and teammates and i think it is fitting we are sitting here today on pearl harbor day and you can help crystallized mind of what happens when youre not prepared and if we end up in the conflict michelle was talking about, we are not going to have a time so i think that is really useful if you step back we face as a nation whether it is the challenge from china or others we are piecing, we cannot fall for those must be fully leveraged capability of technology and amazing capability in our tech sector here, we have to take full advantage of that we have to because of the speed to bring back capability there which can be faster and capabilities for National Security but also quality and capability technology, much of the is in that tech sector. Things like artificial intelligence, cyber, space, bio technology, those areas are not just going faster but always will go faster driven by relentless demand of consumers around the world and the enterprises and i just came from that world. That capability will always go faster to meet those demands so we have to at the same time go hard and deep to take full advantage of their capabilities and pathways and we have to take advantage of that. They are originally back and seeing that and wanting to get after it. If you step back and look at that, i had the privilege of looking at the on a parttime basis back then it was about building the bridge between the department at tech sector. Tactical Nuclear Weapon inside. Such a conflict concern for little while there is a rush, indians and others said there was no rule here but there was a concern when this was over that that changed the atmosphere, suddenly it is legitimized that a Nuclear State might threaten you have seen from the moment, the overall working threat. When we talk and you hear people use that with that means what they have. That component of the time so i owned a bomber during that time. Nothing else what it did the conversation would have it down to i would say the dining room table of peoples homes and what that really means. And a lot of folks didnt Pay Attention to. The conversation now we have forms like this and discuss. This was really important, America Needs to understand how we get in ukraine when the soviet union broke out, were countries out of the soviet union lived here, russia, kazakhstan and ukraine. Ukraine at that moment was the Third LargestNuclear Power. But not in control of the weapon. They have the possession of those weapons, we seen what ukrainians can do when they have the ability but we the United States had the policy now, always will. The whole world in particular must, our National Security we sat down and 94 and persuaded them which they did and they gave up Nuclear Weapons and if something happens, we will be there, here we are. Then fast forward to the time you mentioned russians start threatening Nuclear Weapons and the world says ukraine had Nuclear Weapons, the cant respond, russia is threatening with Nuclear Weapons, where are we . I have said all along ukraine, if United States does not stand behind ukraine, i believe you are going to see, i worry what our enemies with thing that i worry much more about what our allies would think and i really think it in ukraine would set off and what we have seen. Your colleagues. That is a separation but it is more talked about but you guys than it is on the bill. The people who do not want in a whole lot where the 92 of us think we need to do this dont get nearly that coverage but back to that question, we have the conversations and it is a series conversations, there arent a lot of things that do but and the south koreans under the Nuclear Umbrella and certainly all nato we cant count on the United States. It is a serious concern. We talked about the Transactional Partnership between russia and china, we dont have transactions and partners. To prove extended time and that was loose on and south korea and republic of korea as well as b52 for the first time. A long time. What made that even more amazing as commander being able to see the deterrence factor because on each wing from are okay and in japan and i think that makes a difference in regards to the and the confidence building insurance. I have so much more including the Industrial Base but one of the rules and their effect to make sure to stay on schedule and this retaliation promise that we dont so im afraid we have to end it here but i want to thank you both in the conversation. [applause] [applause] we can institute that, thank you, thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my great pleasure to introduce david cameron, he needs no introduction, a brandnew foreign secretary of United Kingdom and former Prime Minister seeing how the west must stand together ukraine and other issues. [applause] i met for a funeral but i couldnt be more delighted at this time because there difficult issues we have to get to grips with. And i left universitys berlin wall was falling most of the Union Breaking up, russia and china was joining the wto and wto and in many ways across the world, countries adopting. It wasnt the end of history but it felt like we were making extraordinary progress. In a much more aggressive china and russia instead of more and more countries adopting sanctions. I think the first thing to realize is how much has changed and unlike seven back, liberty minded conservatives and optimism and things are going to go back how they were. A conversation with barack obama, i said we are the two Fastest Growing economies, we should be so proud and he said yes, where the two best looking forces in the fauci. [laughter] at the time i thought but now i realize the world had changed and we had to recognize that. It is important to do that because at this time is never more important to strengthen our defenses to protect our systems and build on key alliances and work with our precious friends and allies. I think we should be frank about something, our domestic politics making it harder but engage in the world we need to build security and stability we need. On the hill yesterday, i hear it back at home, why should we meet these challenges of the seas . I think we should be frank there are some things fundamentally upended, the pressures we have from the Mass Movement of people, globalization hasnt benefited every part of our country equally, their people who left behind and the incredible application and the implication through social media and im not one who said ignore that and dont think about that, just make the argument for engagement, we have to deal with those problems. Were only strong internationally if we can be strong and prosperous domestically. We will got to meet those domestic challenges to engage that the arguments for engagement are, who got to make them however hard it is. The difficult points to make investing in that investment. The biggest beneficiary in america making that argument over and over again. In another country i stood in if saw what happened, children massacred in front of their parents and right to support israel and deal with the hamas terrorist threat for the people who call forth the ceasefire need to understand in charge of part of gaza that could never ba2 state solution. The International Humanitarian law and importance of natural teeth. Will make these points over and over again. As we think about the future how we build the future for israel and the Palestinian People to live in dignity and justice, the Development Part will be every bit of a support and will have to work out how to build the palestinians and revitalize and have to work on the arab state and rebuild what they have and what they need so people who say this development they are soft on the Security Policy and really the issue is china, we need britain and america in the country that believes in democracy, we need to offer countries an alternative. Its no good and they say its great, china built the bridge, you just give it, the got to offer that alternative and its important to Work Together to make sure we can put the best in rather than leave them to the mercies of china. Crucially what i want to talk about his ukraine. I have a simple straightforward view. Putins invasion of ukraine was the worst example of the one day invading devastate we have seen and it is a huge challenge. Am not worried about strength and unity and bravery of ukrainian people, i have seen it for myself. Im worried theyre not going to do what we need to do. The countries on the side of ukraine, outmatched russia by 30 to one, the size of our gdp and we want to make that size and we got to make sure we get back, the weapons, i cannot support, moral support and military support that makes the difference. I want to take out the few moments of cap, i got a couple left, take on the arguments engaged in the first thing you hear, its not working. You look at what the ukrainians have been, what russia will. I was standing in the port a couple weeks ago and ukrainians pushed the russian navy across the sea and in the process theyve opened up the way to export in over 200 use that since the amazing work. They are exported in the economy is exceeding again and we should be backing them. The second you hear, are we doing enough . You are doing an incredible job but the figures show European Countries are military support during crisis much as the United States so the support really is there difficult to the package, whatever you have to connect it with, i will give it enormous gift. In the past it has been disunited and i was in brussels a couple of weeks ago and ive never seen nato so united and engaged with sweden joining, it is a massive failure and managed to bring about unity. What is the strategy . Are trying to help and we want to surprise them to rebuild next year and see what they are doing. Why is that important . Anything less than that a victory for putin and if there is a victory for putin, it wont be the end of this. I stood in georgia 2000 and he took part of that now its happened ukraine, it wont be just american money, it will be american lives. What is it, maybe 10 x used by ukrainians and destroy half of russias asset. If thats not a good investment, i dont know what is. I think the final. , what about ukraine . Would be helping the country. Of course ukraine isnt, democracy and referendum and every part of the country as an independent sovereign country. It is passing laws on corruption more than anything. I see it was a great test for our generation, challenge, only going to defend and recognize European Security and American Security . We should stay united in testimony to the ukrainian and back them and make sure. The money doesnt get through, only two people. One of them is in russia and the other is xi jinping and beijing. I want to get either of those people a christmas present. Thank you very much available. [applause] thank you for outlining your views on ukraine, its great to have you in washington. Youre the first former Prime Minister a ministerial job. The first trip was to ukraine you touched on points. Tell us more why you think ukraine should when, how can ukraine when . As we have seen to my think russia casualties from a nato as figure they havent been able to say from ukraine. I think you can see like the back ukraine can respect. One of the are able to give ukraine over the ukraine has been getting in the rest have you under threat, there is nothing will drive russia back and put putin on the back but seen crimea legally part of ukraine is probably under attack so sometimes you have to be patient and thats one problem we have inpatient things do take time and this is worth investing in. Ukrainians, there is no doubt they are committed to recovering territory and we should see that. Do you think crimea is redlined . Providing longrange missiles they have provided. They shouldnt be a redlined because crimea, i am expert in 1991, 1991 there was a lesson in every part of ukraine part of ukraine is independent, i think sometimes it danger of russian propaganda and i remember 2014. Putin sees crimea tried to read this message or it was about what happened, it was a straightforward territory and its refreshing the time that has been unity so shouldnt be seen as a redlined battle. What happens at the end of the process . We have to put ukraine in the best position we have and deliver the message but hes not winning and cannot and there will be different circumstances of life. , hill met with the house speaker, republicans who have had expressed concerns how the money was in ukraine, other concerns about corruption . What were your answers . There are a lot of concerns but my view is are good answers to all of that. If you take the issue of the money as i said, 10 of the defense budget, you have an impact on russia turned into we didnt take this fight, they turned into our adversary what they did in ukraine and we are working very hard to not only supply weapons but also train them. Britain trained so from anything i can see, the womens going to ukraine is being used effectively and thats whats happened in biloxi and ukraine doesnt really have a name and its effect of the russian, excited by the valuable money. It is remarkable. Yesterday the russian helicopter i believe u. S. Officials explain what happened. Something like a fit of russias of tech in the theater were destroyed and i think that was home. Cap improves incredible weapons and there are many aspects and the big defensive elements of what you see is where hong kong brother and helps make an enormous difference and it was my predecessors ahead of the game. We did give the weapons, that was an escalation, it just was one ally giving another the independents. Same argument about low range artillery and i think its always crossed the red line of nato soldiers fighting russian soldiers, we should be doing everything we can to support independent nation to defend itself. In the vanguard of the, i think we have been justified. Do think there is too much concern in the United States at the leadership level about potential for nuclear war and two years of this . I , the u. S. Of nato and the owner you have to think about these things carefully. I think when you think about it logically, what are we doing . Helping a sovereign state defend itself, it has that right to use weapons to defend itself and that doesnt limit you to know thanks for low range artillery, its all of those things and you should be available so there is hesitancy over military threats experience this. Do think it is off the table now . It is the way behaves but it is clear what we are doing is completely acceptable supporting a sovereign independent nation. Thats whats resonating to americans. Nato is not spending their gdp on the defense budget. In this issue he was right to say more nations need nato conference it is nato over 30 members in over 20 in 2 in Real Progress and its really begin to feel the pressure. Not right america has to pay for europes defense. In if you military civilian economics and humanitarian, the overall european figure of 150 million is the u. S. Figure so i think we really are. The Impact Congress will be huge because it will enable they want to get behind ukraine for the next year. The second largest in ukraine after the u. S. And the allies 36 billion gets it out there. The sounds like a lot of money to average americans the aei suggested 90 of the money is here in the United States and its building up munitions in 31 states and 117 production lines why is this a good investment . Members of the public live in places in the uk are the states where does Industrial Base as a result. A wakeup call to west, it is reinvigorated but also it is a wakeup call just in time might be okay for amazon deliveries. We do need to have more solid supplies and make sure supply chains are. I think all of a place is important and we are at the place where we have to thinking about how we run down existing stocks think more how we build up. The more dangerous insecure world supply chains and defense and permits, these are more important. The safety of the development and they work as well and other allies defend themselves and we have to find ways for friends and allies and partners to defend themselves. The sanctions against russia work . I think they worked to an extent, the calculation ive seen is had the sanctions not been there, they would be another 100 billion dollars available for russias war machine. I think to start with, we need to make sure sanctions were smarter and oil restrictions are better making sure the prices dont feed into the russian revenue but keeping up with it additional sanctions yesterday on 46 entities in 11 countries including prospectus and in turkey, nato, china, all countries who got businesses so we are using our regime to stop that. Today he sanctioned to russians linked to disrupt our democracy so i think it is about a full spectrum across the system approach with russian factors. Do think the 411 billing dollars russian money overseas to be used to build ukraine . I think it is an interesting argument and i will talk about this today, all our countries confiscated aspects i think it is a strong argument to say they are just breathing the money. Spend it on rebuilding ukraine and that it is a payment on the reparations russians will one day have to pay. There are a lot of arguments produced in our economy and look at the arguments and so far have not seen anything, this is a bad idea. This does fall under the bracket, the world has changed, its change with the way iran is behaving in the middle east and the devil of insecurity and the fact that china has become hostile and there is a tendency the got to crisis in the world for mark ukraine in the middle east and more likely. First of all, we should remember lessons from pearl harbor with act of aggression that was. For strength and restraint at the heart of the lessons weve learned in the 40s. This is what i felt so strongly, there would have to be a brilliant student in the 30s was a disaster and we ended up with more invasions and hitlers and we eventually had to do something about and the price is higher the longer you wait. With china but i would say in my time, we tried to build a positive relationship and engage in some resulted in good economic outcomes but china has changed. We have seen the treatment of hong kong and diplomacy and terrible situations when australia does something for the sylvania and this is what we are dealing with, we need to harden our systems and be clear ida as a result. One thing in this approach not only to protect ourselves and system models are aligned better with our allies because it is much easier to stand up to this if we stick together. You think available is with hong kong . It has always been there in the United States has the one china policy and they believe in unification of china and taiwan. What we share, this cannot happen anyway but it will be collision. It is important because china is walking. Iran is watching and we know even most recently if you pull back from one of these important exercises working together. We have to turn to the middle east, do you still believe a two state solution as possible . I do. When you go to israel today, it feels a long way off because its a nation and torment, the eighth of october different country. The people where i went, they were the most peace loving to states supporting group of people, one that im a, driving the families to israeli hospitals so it feels a long way off but ultimately if you are a friend of israel, and i am from a longterm security is strong not only strong defenses, it means finding a way for palestinians neighbors are also living in security and dignity. Getting there is credibly hard but we have to think what happened on day one, what do you do to build up authority . How you get states to commit to working on the and thinking how to provide stability and security in gaza . How do we improve . It is incredibly difficult but not to me the alternative two state solution is much less. Prime minister netanyahu. You have to ask him. [laughter] you have to give. I think the answer is israels longterm security and friends of israel have to persuade and i think judge them by whatever actions they take in the longterm. Thank you very much,. Thank you so much for telling us the common sense reason the United States, along with europe and other allies and friends investing security of ukraine, we really appreciate that message. We are very grateful to welcome to the stage one of the longtime friends john podesta, his help every difficult job in the United States government and has recently gone back to acting for this one of your greatest passions from a to solve the christ is Climate Change. It may not be an obvious thing for National Security conference to focus on Climate Change but we always do every time we have a conference because it is a National Security issue, critically important one. Its already making civil wars in sudan and syria and elsewhere worse, is causing a migrant crisis largely invisible and will only get more difficult so we are excited to have john podesta. Still legs, thank you. No one better to interview him and jim from cnn. [applause] we will put you on the right for once. [laughter] thats where uncomfortable. Apologies, i am in colorado more casual. As we started, i never doubt crime is a National Security issue and monograph conversations with folks about the reality of Climate Change in the u. S. Navy website for the u. S. Navy speaks openly about National Security migration, moreover resources and etc. , ill have to tell you that but it is something have to bring up frequently. Working for secretary, im glad you referenced this but i will start by telling a story, this is triggering for me. When i was bill clintons chief of staff in 2000, gail smith went to run usaid, our senior director and we center into breathing room one day to say Climate Change, transnational threats were security threats and really got left out of the Briefing Room from your colleagues. Fastforward 13 years later in the defense review first identified Climate Change as a threat multiplier. I say today we shouldnt think about as a threat multiplier, it is right, the effect noted on Human Security cascades into security challenges across the board because of the displacement of people which exacerbates fragility as well as people pouring over the borders which obviously as we are watching what is going on on capitol hill and inability to find a path forward to get the resources ukraine needs and israel needs, i think it is something i think we will only get worse and be exacerbated the years ahead so we have to take it seriously on those terms as well as the economic environmental terms we usually discussed. The environment and Climate Change and must migration africa to europe and south america, we are discussing those issues more often. There is cautious optimism expressed by organizers and others that they will come to the phasing out or phasing down a fossil fuels, i wonder if you shiva. I think it is a healthy debate on record as being in favor of phasing out on fossil fuels. With the it a while ago and secretary has been clear but there is still resistance so negotiations are in the clenches. One thing that has happened is the focus on the oil and gas sector and its never been as prominent. We have been talking a long time about the need to stop building the power plant and put pressure on countries like china to begin to not only stop building new plants but retiring old plants. Perhaps it is posted by the uae its put a bullseye from the oil and gas sector and i think it let to a significant step forward in terms of reducing methane from the production of oil and gas, the United States on the with the rules the epa finalized in the oil and gas sector. In general, the commitment made on the second day were substantial only gets emissions from production, it doesnt get scope three, what happens when the oil is actually used emissions come back. You mentioned the word what of buzzword, unabated. Explain that and does it up all along as we figure out a way to lay not in week will be okay. Unabated means there are processes by which you can capture emissions. Are any of those proven . They are theoretically proven whether they are economic is the question. I think there is a lot going on, little more distant supporting demonstration projects and sequestering it and injecting it into the ground. More typically what people refer to is taking co2 out and injecting it underground. Has it been demonstrated . Yes but is it a solution . Theres quite a bit of contention even in the top. One way to think is you cant keep earning fossil fuel forever and ever and think you can grab that and put back underground. That is not an overall solution, we have to move the sources of energy but there certain amount of co2 released have to be able to move in the processes where mid century would get to where people use the term that zero retake carbon out of the atmosphere and then there needs that space. There are a lot of parallels but i wonder if it is filtered cigarettes, as long as we put a filter in everything, it will be fine. How much is a solution as opposed to destruction or delay . I think that is a fair question. What i say we have to demonstrate the technology, continue on the path we are on, essentially rr economy into clean sources, renewables, zero carbon sources like Nuclear Power but there is a little tail at the end. I think the fossil fuel industry might pretend we can keep doing what we are doing and take care of this, but is not a solution and will not work. What i am doing at the white house is trying to implement the reduction act. Try to replace those resources across every Industrial Areas climate. There is good news it is speaking of the industry, what is the most, are they credible partners . I think we need them to do things different. The uae for example is a Major Development of renewals of power and that is in a sense a good thing but the cant keep going down the track they are going which we continue to deploy and i think the same thing basically is true across the globe. We need to see a duty transportation and where we get to. The world is dependent on continued production of oil and gas but we have to make this transition and thats why we push toward that goal of 50 . And what is the u. S. s role in this . In the near term it is a result of what mr. Cameron was talking about the fact on oil prices that have to come down. It Shows Security and based on the shortterm it is a good thing. That doesnt mean it is the solution. In electric vehicles and battery any fracturing supply chain. It is very focused on this issue and i have a lot physicians and they will say regarding the set up good things are happening a more rapid update on solar and wind power. Those are real numbers. Those are real numbers. So talk about this. We look i think you mentioned some things, i think what we have seen is manufacturing let these. I think last year will 4 of all spending on durable goods was energy in the United States. That is a result of people making that transition, moving forward with new technologies and commitment. And the generation, it is now only out during the Energy Production a global level why we see it in the United States. And what is happening in the culture, the overall sales from the pandemic to now. The clean energy i think it is being led by a policy environment where the government enabled private Sector Investment and the response was tremendous energy. We sent a couple specifically on offshore wind. With inflation increased prices companies such as shell pulling out products. A shortterm setback . I do and even worse still developing breaking ground as we speak. The federal government has done a better job increasing the pace permitting in the context, the largest in the u. S. And that project is on track and will develop and we will see the first production off cape cod so it is true the headwinds for offshore wind has been severe because they are dependent on upfront environment as well as taking a little bit of effort and supply chain going in the u. S. And in europe so there is a premium in the u. S. But is the inflation debate, they have the and they are still a strong commitment Going Forward with offerings and those will come in. There is both the federal on both the west coast and east coast and a Big Companies are committed so it will work out. I spent a lot of time in my job on the u. S. Relationship with china and the National Security perspective and flashpoints will and u. S. And china relations. The lunch area is in the world is u. S. And china working together Climate Change will hear from cozy makers cooperation and i wonder if that is something you share, is it warplanes. During her tenure member of 2014 now that in i give credit to secretary for speaking, going back and back and the result of meeting maybe six weeks ago resulted Movement Forward with the commitment for all Greenhouse Gases is an important step china participating whats going on now around methane reduction so thats good news but we are in a different place than before and during my tenure with obama. It is more on edge and we are in a period of real competition and through the operation and not into technological cooperation, semiconductors technologies. The chinese control too much from the security perspective and upstream technologies and upstream solar supply chain around the development what we are trying to do is push toward reassuring and working with our allies to reduce our dependency on china for those critic technologies. I promise, god, i do have one more question. Its almost, i think it is too strong a word in there is an aspect of talking about u. S. Relations but also environmental policies. The election next year which could happen that would eradicate change in the u. S. Approach for this, publicly stated the Science BehindClimate Change. What does it mean for this country, the largest in the world approaching this issue and any commitment today will last beyond the next 11 months, what does it do . They try to reverse the action by a Bipartisan Group so i think in particular this movement from state and local governments, private sectors and universities and nonprofits and etc. Ive met with a lot of them, they have rebranded when i was in dubai and there is tremendous leadership at the state and local level at the business level and they are will pushing forward. What i say about the inflation reduction act, it was maybe the Affordable Care act and would like to believe history would repeat itself but is supposed to be durable because the ten years of support for this Energy Transition built in is resulting in all activity around the country, jobs being created, 210,000 jobs created just sent the bill passed and that is more every month and all across the country. North, south, east to west, people focus on what is happening in california and georgia and michigan and new york and maine, all across the country. That is very hard so i am confident policies are here to stay because the crisis is here to be dealt with and will organize for a long time to come. Do we have a question for the audience . If you could make it brief, keep on scuttling. , is the largest producer, are they doing anything to move away . They are still building and what our diplomacy has done in discussions have emphasized they need to stop building coal and start with the old quote. Their answer is they can manage a massive buildup of renewables they are building in china but they have to stop building coal and they havent stopped yet but if you Power Electric vehicles using coalfired power, having accomplished much yet, just the other side of the question youre asking but i think the pressure i think is most subject to from the rest of the world and particular most Vulnerable Countries we started off with, people bearing the brunt of extreme weather, food and Water Systems of etc. I think the push toward having a change of behavior in china and the United States is an important choice but less of a Global Community that i think is likely to change. Who will say this part of the conversation. Thanks so much. [applause] thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, we now have for you a very special treat, we are proud to welcome catherine tie, United States trade representative and what a complicated job at a public it time for free trade among things both the left and right and politics in the United States make it difficult to negotiate trade and feels, shes doing her best, she spent at aipac doing a great job for the country with many meetings and to interview her, we have david weston, thank you so much. [applause] thank you very much for doing this. Everybody wants to hear from you im looking forward to this. So i. Thinking about your job, you hold a multiplayer job, you cover the globe literally but also a lot of gymnastics. Folks think trade is economics which it is but also covers geopolitics which is what this is about to come acclimate in the role of Workers Alliance to let me ask you one specific question touched on the globe that is data and pto you change the policy i think 30 years plus favoring when it comes to dataflow across the flow, why did you do that let me engage with the way you set up, is so important to set up when you say United States trade representative and abroad, i think people would say you have Something Like this. When you say u. S. Trade representative, i try to do as much as i do want trouble, you get blank book, what is the u. S. Trade representative . I think its an important part of the conversation because we sit at the intersection, one is your problem Foreign Policy and if you are right, you have to do trade with other countries and economies so we are part of the Foreign Policy but at the same time, trade is economic and the decisions you make in your Economic Policy impacts your domestic policy so we are equally part of the domestic ignore lessee and we sit at the intersection it is uncomfortable because these two forces are often pulling you in different directions, not always opposite directions so your points more what we do internationally has to be connected to what we are doing and talking about what our calendars are and your question about the wto, the public narrative and this is my opportunity to explain, this is a walkie crowd, we did that for wto will was not to change the position but to withdraw our attributions, withdraw indicated support for three or four proposals the ongoing wto negotiations, the ecommerce agreement. It is not a full wto negotiation, it is a subset of about 90, a significant portion of the wto. What we did was we look at what our positions are and except whether or not they are still lined with domestic conversations, domestic Regulatory Environment for these issues and get us it is ecommerce, it is a negotiation over Digital Economy because it is so much of the economy, everything we do in the economy now touches on technology and data. As we are looking we saw yes, yes, yes, for most of the proposal, we are still where we have been in a couple of the proposed formal concept kill really significant with data, data flows, data storage, data localization and also source code. These three areas what i saw was it is that they we are having at home the conversation around technology and Technological Advancement and data and regulation of the Digital Economy shifted significant since putting the proposals forward in 2019. As a result we needed to withdraw attributions to create to come up with new positions and a new orientation for engaging with the other 90 countries negotiated with. Just so i understand, is it a matter of domestic questions of regulation . Was a question of international doing . Its own position on bookings talking about dataflow or is it combination . I think there are two aspects. Let me take the first one terms of connection but we are doing internationally in terms of trade and economic about negotiations and what is going on at home. Will i remember it was my senior year of college december between junior and senior year the World Wide Web was rolled out for the world and i remember coming back to the question was, briefly your mouth . You pass over texted of it highlighted, it means you can click on it. Cost my senior year of college so a lot has changed in a short amount of time. We in the United States dont have a very robust regulatory system for the technology and economy environment. We are struggling every day because in the last almost 30 years so much has changed in the rules we put in place and we dont have rules for a lot of it is starting to come home to roost we are starting to feel like the applications of regulatory system that started in the 90s and hasnt evolved very far, it creates disconnect with the implications of this advancement so i will give you a specific example that may resonate with a lot of people, be unveiling of chatgpt in the spring i think was a wakeup moment that theres a lot of innovation going on in our economy, that is great but holy jesus had the opportunity to participate a. I. Time they were getting coming up with hilariously funny outcomes where you have a. I. Write a joke in the joke that came out was almost never funny or funny because it was so unfunny. Five years ago in 2019, 2018 we are thinking a lot of potential, innovation but we dont have to be worried because it is still very rudimentary. For a bit of time to put confidence blowing everybodys mind. Not just to massive amounts of data for access powerful computing processes. You married those two up and push the innovation and acknowledgment. Who does access to data very small number almost all if not all and data flows some localization in these negotiations the question we have to answer of authority between the private sector and in the government and regulatory authority. Who gets to decide or control clearly stated strict, where it needs to be and when access is required in those issues are consequential not just for trade and economic but our entire society and these issues need if we are going to need, the trade rules of the time when there is no consensus Million Committee massive malpractice will in getting a of all of the other conversations we need to make as a country. Can be too lower behind or ahead. You said almost all. It is going very fast. Some important affairs and armscontrol over a. I. Does that make sense to you . Safe on the Foreign Policy team which i am, the National Security issue you think of it as a band secretary alston and secretary clinton are like the lead singer and lead bassist. [laughter] may be a backup singer or dancer. We are absolutely a part of the team but im not i dont think i should be driving back security. This is very much approved today. I am thinking about how we can democratize Economic Opportunity at home in america and how we can do that with our partners how we can do the same thing at home, in terms of treating data as a National Security controlled substance. I understand why that has relevance but we have to understand the criticality of data to economic vibrancy. Youve taken us to a version of the indo pacific, President Biden went to asia, you are pretty close to the lead singer on it. Give us a sense where that stands. There were expectations, some people didnt feel like we did. Is that an accurate perception and if so, why didnt we make it . Some people did express this point but let me say what we did. The Economic Framework is an Economic Engagement framework and program for our partnership with our friends in the indo pacific. It has four pillars. We are very much applying lessons we have learned from the past 7 or 8 years. Trade is a pillar. In addition to trade we had a pillar on supply chain and infrastructure, climate financing and the last one on anticorruption. I think of it as good government. We feel that is more comprehensive Economic Engagement than trade negotiations. s designed to be responsive to what all 14 countries in the indo pacific groundwork are grappling with today and those are economically with respect to our resilience, sustainability and with respect to the inclusivity of economic outcomes we are having at home and to gather. Each one of those pieces. On trade, within the trade pillar it is not a traditional freetrade agreement. There are things we did that we are not doing in the trade pillar. Paris negotiations. We are not doing them because right now in terms of aggressive tariff, we cant do a Tariff Program that will serve the purpose of resilience. More resilient supply chain but everything we have in the trade pillar had to answer yes to one or more of the following questions. Does this topic, this tweet of rules promote more resilience, more sustainability or inclusivity . We have been working hard to work out ten issue areas in the trade pillar. Weve made significant progress to achieving consensus in 5. 5 of them. Regardless what we were planning to do, we had a full 24 negotiation agenda and we are committed to continuing with it and partners told us that we are continuing to negotiate on it. Part of democracy is politics. Do we expect Real Progress in the Economic Framework an Election Year because there are real domestic consequences. I would say this. The lessons we learned from the past 7 years on trade mean we cant ever ignore the political consequences. In terms of looking at next year it will be a particularly Political Year but the issue of trade is inherently political. To your point, when you are a part of the domestic Economic Policy team, how what you do impacts americans at the Kitchen Table is always relevant. I think from my perspective next year for us we will be sensitive to the scale but not the nature of the year. Everything we are doing we stand 100 behind what we brought to how we scoped and designed the negotiation. Lets talk about how you invest your capital. You are responsible for trade agreements. New trade agreements expanding current trade agreements or enforcing existing trade agreements. How do you allocate your time and resources to those three . This is how you do it. You spend one hundred of your time negotiating and one hundred of your time enforcing and 100 of your time expanding. I will take it as a segue to talking about our enforcement agenda. We do a lot of things. We are responsible for trade policy. In terms of trade enforcement, in order for our trade agreement and trade arrangement, we have to hold our partners accountable for the promises they have made to us and our stakeholders and their stakeholders too. We need to take the enforcement agenda extremely seriously, high priority. A couple things i want to highlight. One with respect to the us mca which is the renewed nafta. That got a lot of headlines. It is a very very interesting articulation of the basis for modern new us trade policy. One of the most important aspects of the us mca, it has much stronger labor and environmental standards, stronger Enforcement Mechanisms and a labor specific enforcement mechanism we call the Rapid Response mechanism. To Work Together to reach and pierce the veil of state to state interaction to focus on specific facilities in mexico that are not respecting mexicos laws on labor justice or the mcas rule and weve activated this mechanism, the Current County 16 times, 14 times at the behest of petitioners, twice on our own initiative and in every one of those cases weve seen through to the end we have a real benefit for workers in mexico. Democracy and democratization of Economic Opportunity. To advocate working conditions, i think it is not an accident that right now 90 of the cases we have brought were in the auto sector. One specific example. Early on in the first year one of the first three cases was related to a gm facility in mexico. As a result of our work in partnership with the Mexican Government the workers at the facility were able to win a new vote for the union. They voted in a truly independent union to represent them. They voted on a collective Bargaining Agreement negotiated for them that they saw before they voted to approve it and they won better benefits, they won the first wage increase they had in years with 10 wage increase and it went up 10 . These are real whens. The most significant part of this is what we are doing is relevant to everybody who is interested in trade. We flipped the narrative on its head. For the first time ever, we are offering workers a mechanism for their own advocacy and empowerment through a trade agreement. Without the trade agreement they wouldnt have this mechanism. This is one of the cornerstone of the Worker Center trade policy which is to drive the trade policy more americans feel will tap their interests. On the other hand we are doing a lot for our farmers as we always had, and without leading that agreement i will say weve taken seriously our corn producers concerns around the mexican decree, we initiated settlement cases and are litigating it out right now. On the subject of expanding existing agreements, your counterpart in taiwan said you can get a freetrade agreement, expand that and raise geopolitical Foreign Policy issues. Are you open to that . The negotiation we are having with taiwan every trade negotiation has an element that is baked into it that they are trying to be responsive to the data and feedback we are getting from the world economy. There are so many changes going on simultaneously come our smartest economists, even my colleague janet yellen who is a legend in macroeconomics, no one can explain what happened or what is going to happen next. From a trade policy perspective, what weve been disappointed in trying to do is let us bring the trade program to each one of our partners that is tailored to that partner, tailored to their interests, tailored to the challenges and dynamics we are navigating in the Global Economy. What that meant is we are negotiating agreements and the First Agreement we have with taiwan covers five issue areas, regulatory practices and i have to look at that, a core group of 5 disciplines, we signed that agreement. Congress in a fit of enthusiasm, to show their support for what we are doing at on basis of that support negotiating another set of disciplines, making excellent progress and continue to look at those agreements to have an arrangement with the taiwan economy that is fit for the times. Times are challenging and this is one of the accomplishments we are committed to. You dont rule out a free trade agreement. What do you mean by freetrade agreement . The traditional approach to a comprehensive liberalizing aggressively liberalizing agreement, we are not doing that with anybody and it is insensitive to the Global Economy right now to push on with that program which may have been fit for the 80s 90s showing its age in 2,000two thousand ten. It is 2023. We need new policies. There is innovation all around us. Lets renegotiate those agreements. Ai isnt a thing we talked about. In all these ways we have not experienced the pandemic. As much as we embrace americans and in our economy, embracing trade policy. If by fda, innovating trade agreements, aggressively, but in new ways, what we used to do, then know. You said trade has a role in that, what specifically can you do. I want to be more pointed than that. Why dont we have a carbon adjustment tax . We heard from President Biden about that and the proposal didnt go forward. Why dont we just do that . Trade has to be part of the solution. Why arent we there yet . You are telling the wrong person. That question needs to go to the u. S. Congress. Who writes the tax policy . Dont get me wrong, we each have our respective roles prescribed by the founding documents, the u. S. Constitution with respect to tax policy. That is the jurisdiction of the United States congress. We have to, we have to have that congressional, legislative revenue outlook and consensus or at least the basis, before i can do anything appreciably meaningful in trade to. Thats true for climate and also digital. Is the Biden Administration pressing actively for carbon adjustment tax . Are repressing aggressively . To get them if john podesta is still in the building you should ask them to come back and ask him that question. The original question, what are we doing with respect to trade . The most important thing we have been doing, another of our innovative trade initiatives has been the negotiation of a global arrangement with europe so we ve had section 232 global tariffs. The Biden Administration has perfected it with respect to global overcapacity and Global Market distortions. That is a fact we have to contend with. We have to be a steel producer including for National Security reasons, we shouldnt be taking that on our loan. The distortions are happening to our partners too. We joined forces with the europeans to say lets figure out how we can normalize trade but Work Together to defend our economies against unfair trade and unfair production and create incentives for cleaner trade and cleaner production. The europeans put forward and are rolling out a carbon adjustment mechanism that covers five or six sectors that include ceiling that. Will that is what we are working towards. We give ourselves two years. We will need more time. We are committed in the Biden Administration on behalf of the United States to work on the issue with europe because it is so important and it is foundational he important to create a template for what we might do. Host one more question on africa. It is important overall and i know it is important to you. Where are we right now . Next week will be the one Year Anniversary on President Bidens african leader summit which we hosted last year in december. At the conclusion of that summit President Biden gave an instruction to all of us which is build partnerships with africa, the continent, the countries and the regions, to go to africa early, often. I ve been to the continent twice this year. One trip in july in kenya, we are negotiating one of our innovative trade agreements with can you. Kenya. The other one was last month to johannesburg when south africa hosted the ago of forum, the trade program with subsaharan africa. These engagements and exercises that im involved in our to pursue and enhance robust new approach to a Us Africa Partnership that helps us harness and develop the potential of africa to be the economic engine that drives growth in the next period of globalization. We need to figure out how to do it, we need Development Models that are more effective and more successful for both sides of the equation and im excited by what we are doing. Great to have you here, that is katherine tai, us trade representative