Archive
The administration on the record.
Speeches, testimony, press releases, and interviews from the Trump administration making the case for American economic statecraft and commercial diplomacy. Sources are primary; framing is editorial.
- APR 302026Speech
Speech: Bessent at EXIM: economic statecraft as the new template for U.S. policy.
Export-Import Bank Annual Conference, Washington
Economic statecraft, in which public and private capital align to reinforce national power, forms an economic shield that protects supply chains, secures critical resources, and reinforces the resilience of the United States and its allies. This forms an economic shield, which will serve as the new template for U.S. policy for decades to come.
The Treasury Secretary tells the EXIM Annual Conference that public and private capital, aligned to reinforce national power, is now the operating model for decades to come.
- APR 282026Speech
Speech: Black at SAFE: economic statecraft in the age of U.S. energy abundance.
Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE) Summit, Washington
Simply doing more mineral deals is an incomplete solution. Building a refinery without power creates a facility China can undercut. Investing in a mine without infrastructure to move the ore leaves critical resources stranded. One-off orphan investments build isolated assets that become easy targets. Instead, DFC investments will mobilize private capital to build economic ecosystems, anchored to U.S. capital markets, insulated against adversary control, and structured to generate strong returns for the American taxpayer.
In his SAFE Summit keynote, the DFC CEO ties the doctrine's instrument set to the energy and logistics layer that makes critical-minerals projects commercially viable.
- APR 272026Remarks
Remarks: Kimmitt at NYSE: trade over aid is not charity, it is strategy.
New York Stock Exchange, Trade Over Aid launch
Let me be clear: this is not charity. It is strategy. It is rooted in the belief that economic strength is the foundation of national strength, and that strong, self-reliant partners make for a safer, more prosperous world.
The Under Secretary of Commerce launches the Commercial Diplomacy Enterprise as the institutional vehicle for U.S. private-sector-led international development.
- APR 272026Remarks
Remarks: Orr at NYSE: property rights and contract sanctity as the basic building blocks.
New York Stock Exchange, Trade Over Aid launch panel "Pro-Business Reforms to Catalyze Investment"
Strengthening property rights and ensuring the sanctity of contract are the basic building blocks of economic prosperity. We promote them not because they are magic, self-regulating, or represent the supposed triumph of "neoliberalism" or anything like that. We promote them because they are what civilized nations do.
Moderating the Pro-Business Reforms panel at the Trade Over Aid launch, the Assistant Secretary names the legal architecture the doctrine relies on.
- APR 232026Speech
Speech: Helberg at Endless Frontiers: statecraft, at its best, is a product.
Endless Frontiers Summit, Austin
Statecraft, at its best, is a product. Our job in this era is not to issue communiqués. It is to ship. To build instruments that actually work for American companies, and to iterate on them the way you iterate on a release: measuring, adjusting, shipping again.
The Under Secretary tells the Austin tech audience the State Department is shipping platforms, not communiques, and that Luzon is the first one out the door.
- APR 212026Speech
Speech: Black at Endless Frontiers: resurrecting American economic statecraft.
Council on Foreign Relations Endless Frontiers Forum, Austin
DFC investments will mobilize private capital to build holistic economic ecosystems anchored to U.S. capital markets, insulated against adversary control, and structured to generate strong returns for the American taxpayer, with economic development that moves the needle. We are focused on regions vital to economic security and strategic competition: the Western Hemisphere, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa.
The DFC CEO uses his Austin keynote to set out the doctrine's working model: integrated capital stacks, regional industrial ecosystems, and the resurrection of the Marshall Plan playbook for the AI economy.
- APR 162026Press release
Press release: A 4,000-acre Economic Security Zone in Luzon: the first node of an allied manufacturing network.
State Department announcement, Washington
The Economic Security Zone is part of a broader strategy to surge production for inputs vital to U.S. supply chains. It is expected to serve as a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing: an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand, host-country comparative advantages, and the evolving needs of the allied network.
The State Department announces the launch of an Economic Security Zone with the Philippines, framed as the first of a constellation of integrated manufacturing sites across partner nations.
- APR 12026Speech
Speech: Helberg in Brussels: a strong Europe is a stronger West.
European Commission and Brussels policy community, Brussels
You cannot regulate your way to greatness. You can, however, regulate your way out of it. We want to work together on AI, on advanced manufacturing, on supply chain security. A strong Europe is a stronger West. A stronger West is a more stable, more prosperous, more free world.
The Under Secretary presses Europe on regulation, energy, and reindustrialization, framing the allied West as a single industrial base or none at all.
- MAR 182026Remarks
Remarks: Black at Tulane Law: political risk insurance as the mobilization lever.
Tulane Corporate Law Institute, "M&A in the Government" panel, New Orleans
Think of us as America's international deal team. One of our most powerful tools is Political Risk Insurance. When a country or a dynamic is too volatile for an investment, in terms of potential asset seizure or regulatory changes, DFC will write Political Risk Insurance. It''s an incredibly important way to mobilize investment by the private sector into these countries.
On a panel with State and Energy alongside J.P. Morgan and Covington, the DFC CEO walks through how political risk insurance turns volatile terrain into investable terrain.
- MAR 32026Remarks
Remarks: Black at Milken: exporting capital markets is the strategic instrument.
Milken Institute, "The Next Chapter of U.S. Economic Statecraft" panel, Washington
$205 billion is an enormous number, but let's remember China's Belt and Road is conservatively $1.5 trillion. But you don't want to be equal to $1.5 trillion because then you're just recreating state capitalism. What's much more valuable is putting together capital stacks that incentivize private capital to come in, and then you're building markets and enduring partnerships where U.S. capital, other allies' capital, is coming into a region.
The DFC CEO tells the Milken panel that parity with Belt and Road spending is not the goal. Mobilizing private pools that dwarf the DFC balance sheet is.
- FEB 202026Remarks
Remarks: India joins Pax Silica: from the mines to the models.
India AI Impact Forum, New Delhi
From the mines to the models, we are securing the full stack of the future: the minerals deep in the earth, the silicon wafers in our fabs, and the intelligence that will unleash human potential. Pax Silica is our declaration that the future belongs to those who build.
In Delhi, the Under Secretary signs the Pax Silica Declaration with India and frames supply-chain sovereignty as the new non-alignment.
- FEB 112026Briefing
Briefing: Orr at Critical Minerals Ministerial: fifty-five nations, $30 billion in projects, FORGE as price floor.
State Department, Washington (Miami Media Hub teleconference)
The United States and participating countries are engaging through the ministerial, and other initiatives such as Pax Silica and the newly launched Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement or FORGE, because we recognize the importance of reliable, diversified supply chains in reducing the risk of strategic vulnerabilities.
The Assistant Secretary of State briefs reporters on the inaugural ministerial outcomes: bilateral framework agreements, joint projects, and a forum to coordinate price-floor mechanisms across allied terrain.
- JAN 292026Speech
Speech: Helberg at Hudson: the strategic concept behind Pax Silica.
Hudson Institute, Washington
To address this, we have adopted a new strategic concept: Pax Silica. This is an economic security coalition built on the reality that our security is inseparable from our technological edge. The implementation of Pax Silica will unfold across three broad lines of effort: Membership, Policy, and Projects.
The Under Secretary lays out the membership, policy, and projects architecture of Pax Silica as an economic security coalition for the AI supply chain.
- DEC 172025Press release
Press release: DFC closes Lobito Atlantic Railway: a critical-minerals corridor under U.S. legal architecture.
DFC, Washington
DFC's investments help secure reliable supply chains and prevent monopolization by China and other strategic competitors. The loan will support the rehabilitation and operation of the brownfield mineral port in Lobito and an approximately 1,300-kilometer brownfield rail line in Angola.
DFC signs the loan financing the Lobito brownfield rail and port system, breaking Chinese refining monopoly with allied capital and a host-country sovereign partner.
- DEC 122025Remarks
Remarks: Helberg launches Pax Silica: a coalition built around compute, silicon, minerals, and energy.
Pax Silica Summit, Washington
Pax Silica is advancing President Donald J. Trump's call for a new era of economic statecraft that produces peace and security for America and its allies through the power of private investment, free enterprise, and economics. This is the first time countries are organizing around compute, silicon, minerals, and energy as shared strategic assets.
At the inaugural Pax Silica Summit, the State Department signs a declaration with capable partners around the supply-chain stack of the AI revolution.
- JUL 162025Speech
Speech: Greer in Detroit: fifty countries at the table, three numbers on the scoreboard.
Reindustrialize Summit, Detroit
More than 50 countries have come to me seeking to negotiate agreements to open their markets to U.S. exports, align with us on economic security, and leave in place the significant U.S. tariffs we need to achieve our manufacturing renaissance.
The USTR tells Reindustrialize that more than fifty governments are now negotiating supply-chain alignment with the United States, and gives the manufacturing renaissance a measurable endgame.
- JUN 102025Testimony
Testimony: Black at confirmation: DFC as catalyst, never as the principal.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Washington
Implicitly and explicitly Congress has challenged DFC to make a greater impact and to serve as a substantive economic counterweight to China and its Belt and Road Initiative and other global strategic competitors. The DFC should never be crowding out private capital.
The DFC nominee tells Senate Foreign Relations that the agency's job is to mobilize private capital behind U.S. strategic objectives, not replace it.
- JUN 12025Remarks
Remarks: Rubio at American Compass: industrial capacity is the binding constraint on foreign policy.
American Compass Fifth Anniversary Gala, Washington
There is virtually none of the leading-edge industries of the 21st century in which we don't have some level of vulnerability, and it's become one of the highest geopolitical priorities that we now face: not simply access to raw material but figuring out how can we have more industrial capacities in these critical fields, ideally domestically, but if not here then diversify the global supply chain so that it cannot be used against us as a point of leverage at a time of potential conflict.
The Secretary of State concedes the doctrine's premise: there are foreign policy choices the United States cannot make because of industrial dependence.
- MAY 132025Remarks
Remarks: Sacks in Riyadh: open the AI stack to allies, narrow the carve-out for adversaries.
Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, Riyadh
The Trump administration has just announced that we will be rescinding what's known as the Biden diffusion rule. It literally restricted the diffusion or proliferation of American technology all over the world. The original reason for this diffusion rule is that we have a policy of not wanting our advanced semiconductors to go to what are known as countries of concern; it was never intended to capture friends, allies and strategic partners.
The White House AI and Crypto Czar announces the rescission of the Biden diffusion rule and reframes allied chip access as strategic partnership, not proliferation risk.
- APR 232025Speech
Speech: Bessent at IIF: America First does not mean America alone.
Institute of International Finance Global Outlook Forum, Washington
I believe global economic relationships should come to reflect security partnerships. Security partners are more likely to have compatible economies structured for mutually beneficial trade. If the United States continues offering security guarantees and open markets, then our allies must step up with stronger commitments to shared defense.
The Treasury Secretary invites allies into a rebalancing of the international financial system, on terms that fuse security partnerships with economic ones.
- APR 82025Testimony
Testimony: Greer at trade-agenda hearing: supply chain resilience as deterrence infrastructure.
Senate Finance Committee, Washington
It is critical for our economic and national security that our supply chains are resilient. If the United States does not have a robust manufacturing base and innovation economy, it will have little in the way of hard power to deter conflict.
The USTR tells Senate Finance that without a robust manufacturing base, the United States has little hard power left to deter conflict.
- APR 72025Remarks
Remarks: Miran at Hudson: five ways allies can pull their weight.
Hudson Institute, Washington
If other nations want to benefit from the U.S. geopolitical and financial umbrella, then they need to pull their weight, and pay their fair share. The costs cannot be solely borne by everyday Americans who have already given so much.
The CEA Chair lays out the burden-sharing menu: tariff acceptance, market opening, defense procurement, factory investment, or direct contributions. Allies pick.
- MAR 42025Testimony
Testimony: Colby at confirmation: alliances of capable industry, not permanent dependency.
Senate Armed Services Committee, Washington
A favorable balance of power requires capable allies with real military strength, real industrial capacity, and real political resolve. President Trump has consistently argued that alliances are strongest when they are based on shared responsibility rather than permanent dependency.
The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy nominee tells Senate Armed Services that allied industrial capacity is a structural deterrence requirement, not a goodwill gesture.
- MAR 32025Remarks
Remarks: Lutnick on TSMC: tariff shelter as industrial location signal.
White House, Washington
TSMC, the greatest manufacturer of chips in the world, is coming to America with a $100 billion investment. And, of course, that is backed by the fact that they can come here because they can avoid paying tariffs. So, the idea is: come to America. Build greatness in America. Build for the American customers: the Apple, Nvidia, that whole list.
The Commerce Secretary frames TSMC's $100 billion U.S. commitment as the working logic of the new administration: build greatness in America to avoid the tariff.
- FEB 112025Speech
Speech: Vance in Paris: American technology as the partner of choice.
AI Action Summit, Grand Palais, Paris
This administration will ensure that American AI technology continues to be the gold standard worldwide, and we are the partner of choice for other foreign countries and certainly businesses as they expand their own use of AI.
The Vice President tells the AI Action Summit that the United States will remain the gold standard, and that allies who want access must coordinate on regulation.
- FEB 62025Testimony
Testimony: Greer at confirmation hearing: a technology coalition of the willing.
Senate Finance Committee, Washington
These are the rules of the road, and nobody in the world should buy from you if, in fact, you have a government back door.
In his confirmation testimony, the USTR-designate frames trade policy as supply-chain enforcement and proposes a coalition of like-minded countries to lock out adversary backdoors.