How Trump is Bringing Manufacturing Back to America

White House came to us with a very clear directive. You know the problem, think about the solution differently.

After a decade or more of being unprofitable, we return the bank to profitability.

our adversaries seem to want us to turn off all of our data centers.

Joe, such a pleasure to be here.

Yeah, it's a great question. So 92 years ago, Franklin Roosevelt started the Export Import Bank with one clear idea in mind, which was he believed we needed more well-paying jobs in America to pull the US out of the Great Depression. Right? And so what he didn't quite appreciate at the time was all of that industrial capacity would be needed for the war effort a few short years later. By the way, the premise was simple. If we open up more markets for American companies all around the world, and if we level the playing field for them, make them more competitive, that'll equate to sticky, real, well-paying jobs here at home. Right now, after World War II, what XM then became was a vehicle, a shield if you will, for American companies looking to battle up the Cold War in every single market around the globe, right? And so we actually helped usher in by this big muscle memory that we inherited in the building. A great moment of prosperity, security, stability all around the planet. Now, when you know I was I got to serve the president in the first administration and was very proud to be a part of the transition well before the election preparing for you know what we hoped would be was a big victory in November of 24 and focusing on the economic agencies. You know I firmly believe that XM was a diamond in the rough and that was the argument I made to the president which was Mr. President there's a tremendous amount of muscle memory in that building. We have to channel it. We have to direct it to deliver the American dream 2.0 which you and I both know is really the president's agenda fundamentally. But at the core of it is we need to manufacture more in America in order to innovate more in America. You know we you and I have talked about this a lot. You can't innovate if you can't iterate. Right? If your competitor is in a day or two after tweaking a prototype able to see the result in real life, that's way different than waiting two weeks for something to come back from, you know, all the way around the globe. And so what I presented to the president was a plan to reinvigorate Exom. And the plan was to reorient it around four key strategic priorities, which is actually so much of what you've dedicated your career to both in business building and investing, but also with Cisco Institute and other things. So this will kind of ring true for your viewers. Number one, let's bring the bank back to basics. Like so many of the big agencies, so many of the government tools that were built for purpose because we knew how to build things 92 years ago, right? We didn't build them as a sort of a compromise to a bunch of different objectives. We built it with a very clear need. Does it help create more jobs in America? Does it help make American industry more competitive? And so all right, let's bring it back to basics. Let's help American companies win where they want to compete everywhere around the globe. Number two, energy dominance, energy security. How do we position XM to help bring American energy molecules and technology to every corner of the globe? Now, not just energy molecules, right? The president has done a tremendous job at ensuring that American energy dominance pays a peace dividend, but also gives us flexibility in a lot of strategic areas around the world, which you and I have also talked about in the past. But also it's our technologies that are cutting edge pound which if you want to do a natural gas liquefaction project anywhere in the world Joe chances are you are relying on US technology so let's keep it front and center number three supply chain security I know you want to talk about that today we do too right we have inherited a supply chain issue that has been festering for a few decades right an order of magnitude far beyond where if you aren't doing what Joe Lanson and ABC are doing all day every day. You maybe don't appreciate it, but we needed to mobilize all the banks tools, whether it's Make America, which actually we're in Austin today, helping open a new factory that, you know, we've allowed to be built here.

how do we help support the industries of the future? Whether it's dual use technology, advanced mobility, some of the other things like high payload satellites, which we were focused on today, you know, things that have dual uses, but also the global AI export plan. So, we're very proud to be the first federal agency that lived up to the president's call to action under the global export plan. We rewrote our policies. We are ready to go. But so, coming back to your question, you know, we said, Mr. President, we believe XM can be a frontline economic tool that matters for you in a way that you could explain to the everyday American. And that's where we are. So after a decade or more of being unprofitable, as of a couple weeks, Joe, we return the bank to profitability. So what that means for everybody listening out there is that we're sending a profit, a dividend to the American tax.

right? But we're doing it in a way that's uniquely American. And so one of the things that we grapple with is you know should we be a tamu version of our strategic competitor right I don't believe that's going to work so emulating that model will fail right what we need to be is the best version of ourselves and putting American innovation at the forefront right and again like we talked about you have to be able to manufacture here again so let's make the let's create the conditions where capital formation comes to light it's funny you you and I have talked about this a lot over the course of our friendship but I think it's it's worth and I I I remind people about this all the time. 5 10 years ago, maybe longer, it was rare to see actual entrepreneurs and innovators in America focused on problems that matter, right? You and your cohort and a bunch of the, you know, heretics, as I say, were really focused on these things, right? But if we were in a group of innovators or entrepreneurs, they'd be like, "Hey, I've got this great app."

Totally. And it would be, you know, Joe, I'm gonna send you a picture and it's going to turn into a picture of a cat, right? Or I'm gonna get you, you know, a cappuccino five seconds faster, right? Maybe, but they don't move the needle, right? What we've seen and which makes us so optimistic about America again is you see innovators, entrepreneurs, big thought leaders paired with capital coming together to say we want to solve the biggest problems, right? How do we create missiles that are lowcost, that are plentiful, where we could ramp up production? How do we maintain the integrity of our communications via space satellites and high payloads? How do we do all of the things that are actually going to make everyone out there safer, more secure, more prosperous, and be able to deliver the American dream 2.0, which we could talk more about.

Oh, yeah. So, you know, when I talk about the American dream 2.0, know it it hits very close to home for me, Joe. So, my family started over in America. And when I say started over, I mean started over.

Um, this was right after World War II. And, you know, my mother came here very, very young. And, you know, not knowing the language, not having a single friend. And the bottom line was that the conditions were here, right? So, my grandfather worked at a steel mill on the south side of Chicago. And in two generations, you know, I got to truly live the American dream. So, I got to go to great schools. I got to pursue my passions and I got to serve in a capacity where I want to help deliver it for another 250 years. And so, you know, my background was I was always focused on kind of critical industries, commodities, some of the, as I joke with my wife Daffhany, you know, some of the the least sexy businesses imaginable, right? energy investing.

Well, no one wanted to do those for a while, but now they're now they're hot.

is the revenge of the physical world right so many of your guests have talked about it before in different ways, shapes and forms, but things matter. Supply chains matter. Where something comes from matter. How it got to your house matters and all in the context of, you know, an emerging competitive landscape around the globe, which the president's grappling with in real time.

Yeah, so it was a it was kind of a a funny funny thing. It was purely by coincidence, right? So there was a fateful elevator ride. So I was I was working in New York and a friend of mine invited me to a think tank event and yeah I made the mistake of riding the elevator up with the woman who raised money for the think tank and she said, "Oh, you've got to meet our president. He has this, you know, they we're grappling with this kind of new way of approaching diplomacy." And it was kind of coinciding with what the president and Jared were doing. It was sort of channeling what America does best, which is economic cooperation, businessto business, investment, capital flows, partnering with US technology. How do we have economic diplomacy be a tip of the spear to resolving legacy political conflict around the globe? And so got involved in a project and was was fortunate enough to be able to serve the president in Trump 1 at the Development Finance Corporation where our good mutual friend Ben Black is doing a fantastic job as its CEO really bringing that organization as well to the next level and preparing it for its challenges. And so, you know, it was a we were kind of a Trojan horse into Southeast Europe, focused on 10 countries, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and the Western Balkans, but really trying to flush what we believe was malign influence out of critical industries and critical infrastructure.

Yeah. You want the really simple answer?

American companies have to show up, right? And I would come back and I'd debrief people on the hill or in the building or wherever and they'd say, "Okay, come come on. Give it to me straight. Let me guess. We've got to bribe people in order to compete. We've got to pollute the environment to compete. We have to beg, bar, and steel. We have to do all of these kind of crazy, outlandish, fundamentally unamerican things to compete." I said, "Guys, all we have to do is show up." And we weren't showing up. And so our strategic competitors would get a foothold in the port of Pedos, right? Which is a 50-minute ride from Athens. That's one of the busiest commercial ports. But most importantly, it's in the heart of naval patrolled Mediterranean waters, right? So if we don't show up, our adversaries will. And so we've got to show up.

You know, I think there was I think there are two fundamental reasons, right? First and foremost, I think the opportunities within the United States, as they always are, as we continue to be such a robust, dynamic market, thank God.

There's so much to do here, right? There's more to do sometimes within a 10 mile radius of your of your place here in Austin. There's to do around the globe. But number two is we weren't making it easy. We weren't leveling the playing field, which is why tools like DFC and XM and thanks to the president's vision has understood that look, you're not here to subsidize people. You're not here to win things for them. you're here to level the playing field and give them a shot to compete. And we found, and by the way, you know what we do at XM is we do precisely zero equity investing, right? That's left to others, right? What we do is we do senior secured lending in a way that has reassurance of repayment to our most important constituent, which is the US taxpayer that gives us the capital, right? So, we find that even a dollar of our capital into a project or into a deal changes the game. full stop, right? Because now all of a sudden your counterpart is the US government.

100%. And there's another end of the spectrum, right? Which is it is still aspirational to be partnered with the United States across the board. Nobody goes around and brags about their partner. You know, I got great partners. Who are they? Oh, North Korea, Iran, Russia, Barus, it's fantastic. Nobody says that, right? It is. They are still so proud. We see it, by the way, with our buy America build the future framework, which we started a year ago to help really capture all of the president's momentum for all the countries around the world who are saying, "Listen, we've got to figure out a way to buy more American." And the way we position it, Joe, is to say, you are partnering. You're not buying, you know, a satellite from the United States. You're not buying a Starlink. You're getting to partner with cutting edge American technology, right? You're getting to infuse that into building what the future that you have in mind for your people and you're doing it with America at the core. And so giving people the opportunity to do that, they'll always pick America.

Senate confirmed position of course the president.

Listen, it was it was it was serious. I I feel like you know and by the way, as it should be, right? It is a it is there. I find that there is no greater responsibility than walking around America at large in which we travel the country to every corner and understanding that you work for the people that you come across, right? and that they entrust you with their precious hard-earned tax dollars. And so, look, it was it was definitely a process, right? You know, we live complex lives. You know, I've like you many children. So, with four children, you're ahead of me by a couple, but we'll maybe we'll catch up to you. But, you know, it's you live complicated lives, but you have to put all of that on hold,

It's actually a really good question. So, I was told by many smart people who were help helping me usher, you know, helping guide me through the process that it was a total waste of time to try to talk to Democrats on my committee. And I just fundamentally disagreed. I said, listen, there is nothing that I have in mind. My game plan for XM is fundamentally sticking right down the middle of the fairway with the president's agenda, but it fundamentally should be something that every American, no matter what your party affiliation should be able to get behind. And so funny how it started. First, the members would the senators themselves would meet with me, right? And they were just like, "Oh, let let them meet with a junior level staffer. There's no way the president's nominee to be chairman of the export import bank of the United States is going to meet with a junior staffer." And guess what I did? I met with a junior staffer. I found that junior staffers are sometimes more interesting because they're up to speed on everything.

with which America is grappling and how do we find common sense solutions that don't require a tremendous amount of explanation. Here it is. The things that I agreed with, the Democratic senators were so important. They were so foundational that even though 80% of the things we disagree on, the 20% on which we agreed were so important that they were worth focusing on. And they were pretty simple. Supply chain security, right? Show me a person out there in America who doesn't think it's a priority, who doesn't want to solve it. Access to capital, right? the the reason why America is so great and by the way this is what people don't realize about XM 87% of our transaction activity every single year between 87 and 90% is focused on small and medium-sized businesses why because 90 plus% of companies in America are small medium-sized companies that is the secret sauce of America but they we can't simply have a subset of large banks right that supply capital these small medium-sized companies you know it well right you spent a career ensuring that the best innovators have access to capital when they need it most. So the regional banks, the small community lenders, I wanted to focus on those. Turns out that very senior Democrats on my committee felt the same way, right? So I found that I could bring down the blood pressure by just focusing on the things that matter and that doesn't mean that we agree on all the other things. And my position on every other thing was very clear. And my vision to implement the president's agenda, there was no debate about that. But let's focus on the things that matter. Let's keep the main thing the main thing.

You know, in my committee, more Democrats voted for me than against me.

And by the way, again, people you're wasting your time, John. Don't go meet with those people.