President Obama Speaks at the SelectUSA Investment Summit
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The President: Well, let me begin by thanking Penny —
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not only for her kind words and friendship, but for her
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outstanding leadership in promoting American business
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and making the case for commercial diplomacy.
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Congratulations not only to Penny, but also her entire
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time, especially my dear friend Vinai Thummalapally
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on yet another sold-out summit.
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Give Vinai a big round of applause.
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(applause)
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Those of you who do not know Vinai, he’s a former
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ambassador, and more importantly was one of my
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roommates in college.
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(laughter)
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So he got his job on the merits —
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(laughter)
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— but it is true that he has some compromising
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information —
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(laughter)
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— that if it was ever fully disclosed, I’d
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be in trouble.
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(laughter)
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But he has done an outstanding job.
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To all of you who have crossed oceans to be
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here, welcome.
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And to all of my Cabinet Secretaries and ambassadors
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here, thank you for the extraordinary job that you do.
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I’ve been talking with a lot of young people lately,
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including on college campuses around the country.
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And some of you who are visiting from other
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countries know that when I travel abroad, one of my
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favorite things to do is to have a town meeting with
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young people overseas, as well.
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And one of the things that I remind young people, just to
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offer them a little bit of perspective, is that no
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matter how grim the news sometimes seems, no matter
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how extraordinary the challenges that humanity or
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America seems to be facing at any given moment, if you
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had to choose a moment in human history in which to be
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born, and you didn’t know ahead of time who you were
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going to be — what your nationality was, or your
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gender, or race, or class — if you had to pick one
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moment in history that gave you the best chance to
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succeed, you would choose right now.
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You would choose this moment, when the world is
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wealthier, better educated, more open, more tolerant,
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more connected than it has ever been at any time in
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human history.
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Less violent.
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Less driven by division.
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You’d choose today.
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And as I think about what you’re doing here in this
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hall, I’d add a corollary to that observation.
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If you could choose any place and time to invest
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your business’s precious resources, I believe you’d
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choose right here, right now.
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(applause)
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If you choose a place to expand your portfolio, to
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place your bets, to open up a plant, to start building
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the next great new business or service, you would select
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the USA — because nowhere in the world and never in
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history has there been a better place to grow
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your business.
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Here’s why: Never before has the United States recorded
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75 straight months of private sector job growth.
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Never before has our high school graduation rate been
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higher, preparing students for college and careers in
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your industries.
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Never before have we insured more than 90 percent of our
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citizens, and we’ve seen the slowest growth in the price
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of health care in 50 years.
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And that’s important for —
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(applause)
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— that’s important for a whole host of reasons,
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including the fact that healthier workers are more
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productive workers, not to mention better consumers,
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and more affordable health care makes it easier for
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your businesses to add jobs and pay a good wage.
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Never before have we had such high-standard
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free-trade agreements that level the playing field.
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And when complete, when we’ve gotten it done, the
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Trans-Pacific Partnership will do even more to lower
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the cost of exporting, eliminating taxes and custom
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duties, and raising intellectual property
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standards that protect data and ideas and jobs.
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You would choose right here, right now, because no other
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economy is so crucial for the global economy.
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No other country can add more innovation to your
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business or bring your innovative products
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to more markets.
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No country has as many top universities, and no country
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invests more in research and development than we do.
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In fact, America is responsible for one-quarter
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of the world’s R&D investments.
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(applause)
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No country can match our competitiveness in
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cutting-edge manufacturing.
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No country is home to more entrepreneurs or
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more supercomputing.
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No country has done more to build a culture of making
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and tinkering, and entrepreneurship and
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risk-taking, and of innovation and invention.
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And no other country is home to more foreign direct
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investment than the United States of America.
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Over the last four years, no other country has been named
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by CEOs around the world more frequently as the best
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place to invest with confidence.
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And all of this is for a very good reason: In large
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part because the decisions we’ve made since the
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financial crisis to build our economy on a new
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foundation for the future, there is no country on Earth
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that’s better positioned for the long run than
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the United States.
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We’ve doubled our production of clean energy, even as we
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continue to produce traditional energy sources
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at an extraordinary pace, which means energy costs are
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lower here than they are in many other places around
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the world.
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Our rule of law, our mature capital markets, all these
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things contribute to an extraordinary place
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to do business.
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Now, that’s a pretty good sales pitch.
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(laughter)
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I don’t mind being America’s pitchman.
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(applause)
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And in seven months or so, I’ll be on the job market.
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(laughter)
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And I’m glad I’m going to be here.
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(laughter)
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Because I’m going get on LinkedIn and see what comes up.
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(laughter)
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But the truth is, it’s easy to make the case, and it’s
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one each of the economic development organizations
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represented here can make just as well, because behind
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it are the most talented and most innovative workers in
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the world: American workers.
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That’s why, several years ago, we took the advice of
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the CEOs on my jobs council and started SelectUSA, a
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team that wakes up every morning —
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(applause)
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— a team that wakes up every morning with one
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mission, and that is to bring jobs to America
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from overseas.
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They connect foreign investors with local
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American markets, making it easier for you to build a
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factory or facility in the United States, making it
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easier for you to get American workers
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researching, developing, making, and marketing
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your products.
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In today’s world, where business doesn’t stop at
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borders, and when trade is how we shape economic change
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to our advantage, when the term “global economy” is
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redundant because of global supply chains being tied
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into every element and every aspect of our lives, these
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partnerships are the keys to success for all of us no
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matter where we live, no matter if you’re a small
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startup or a major multinational.
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As the local economic development experts here all
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know, communities that open their doors to foreign
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investment create more jobs and economic activity than
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those that don’t.
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And since we held the first SelectUSA Summit three years
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ago, participating companies have invested more than $10
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billion in 35 U.S. states and territories.
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(applause)
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And a lot of them met at this event, in the
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exhibition hall, or through SelectUSA’s online
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matchmaking program.
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At last year’s summit, an Italian tissue company
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started a conversation with folks from central Ohio, and
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next month they’re breaking ground in the town of
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Circleville on a manufacturing facility that
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will create hundreds of jobs in a part of the American
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Midwest that needs them.
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It will be the largest private sector investment in
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Circleville in decades — and it started right here at
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SelectUSA.
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(applause)
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At that same summit, an agricultural tech company
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from Surat, India met economic development
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representatives from Missouri.
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And within a year, the company established its U.S.
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headquarters in St. Louis.
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And we want more success stories like these.
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We want more of you to invest in America.
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We’re ready to welcome more of the jobs you help create,
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just as you’re ready for American workers and
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customers to help you succeed globally.
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So I believe investing in the United States is the
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best business decision you can make.
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And we also know that investment is always about
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the future.
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So as proud as we are about the lead in innovation we’ve
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developed over the last eight years, we’re running
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up the score.
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We’re not resting on our laurels.
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Since 2014, we’ve opened eight cutting-edge
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manufacturing hubs — public-private partnerships
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that specialize in game-changing technologies
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like 3D printing, photonics, the next-generation textiles.
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And today, I’m proud to announce a ninth hub based
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in Los Angeles that will design smart sensors to make
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all types of manufacturing more efficient.
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And we’ve got more hubs on the way.
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These institutes are new, but the innovators who are
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doing incredible things, they’re who we’ve always
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been as Americans.
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That’s why near my desk, in the Oval Office, I keep
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models of great American patents like the Morse
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telegraph and the propeller blade, and the
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gear-cutting machine.
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And that’s why I’m so proud of SelectUSA, which has
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proven to be a pretty good innovation and investment
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itself, and one that I hope will endure and I’m
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confident will endure after Penny and I leave office.
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Now, I also know that the longer I talk, the less time
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you have to make deals —
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(laughter)
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— with the folks that are sitting around you.
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So let me just remind you that this is not just about
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jobs and trade, it’s not just about hard, cold cash.
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It’s also about building relationships across borders.
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When your companies come together, you help bring
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countries and cultures together.
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You generate greater understanding among peoples
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from different parts of the world.
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That’s one of the most important things that you
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produce, and you should never underestimate its value.
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At a time when there is strong pushback in a lot of
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corners of the world against this process of
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globalization; at a time when, as I’ve argued here in
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the United States and overseas, when people are
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rightly concerned that that process of technology and
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innovation and globalization may be leaving some people
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behind; at a time when we have to be more mindful and
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attentive to the concerns of those who are not
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benefitting and seeing their wages and incomes go up as
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quickly as others; and at a time when the advanced
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economies in particular have to guard against a
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winner-take-all economy in which inequality grows —
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despite all those legitimate concerns that have to be
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addressed to give workers greater voice and to make
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sure that living wages are paid and working conditions
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are strong, what is also true is that the ability for
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us to trade and do business and to integrate our
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companies and people learning from each other,
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and innovation spreading and connecting the globe,
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promises prosperity and reductions and poverty and,
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ultimately, less likelihood of war and violence
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and conflict.
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It is something that can help us advance all of our
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countries at the same time.
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It’s something that we have to nurture and to value.
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The world is smaller than it used to be because of
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innovation, because of technology, because of
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globalization, because of global markets.
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And that is something that can work for everyone if we
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do it right.
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And that’s been part of the premise of SelectUSA.
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When you select USA, when you succeed, you’ll help
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ensure that years from now, when the next generation
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asks itself about the best time to be in business, the
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best time to be a citizen of this world, they’ll be happy
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to answer, in their own day, “right now.”
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So good luck.
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I’m rooting for you.
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Make a deal.
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And make that smart choice to invest in the United
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States of America.
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We are open for business.
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God bless you.
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Thank you very much.
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God bless the United States of America.
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Thank you.
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(applause)
President Obama Speaks at the SelectUSA Investment Summit
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