Mike Lee Grills State Department Nom On Rethinking Foreign Aid To ‘Restore Economic Statecraft’

3/25/2025

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing earlier this month, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) questioned President Trump’s Secretary of State nominee, Christopher Landau, about his suggested policies for foreign aid.

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Transcript

00:00Yeah, I'm sorry. Senator Lee was here first, actually. I didn't see you come back in, Senator

00:08Lee.

00:10Senator Lee, go ahead, and then we'll go to...

00:11Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks to all of you for being here and for your willingness

00:13to serve.

00:14Mr. Lando, I'd like to start with you, if that's all right. You've spoken today about

00:16the need to restore statecraft, economic statecraft, as a core function of the U.S. State Department.

00:23You've also acknowledged this administration has been clear-eyed about the need to rethink

00:30and revisit certain aspects of foreign aid and how it works. But getting back to economic

00:34statecraft, would you agree that the tools available to the United States in the economic

00:41statecraft domain, including things like trade agreements and other efforts that involve

00:48reducing trade barriers, arguably have a better return on investment for us than foreign

00:56aid in the traditional sense and should perhaps be our primary line of effort?

01:02Senator Lee, I appreciate that question. I think that is such an important point to underscore,

01:07that the United... There's probably no force in the world that is as powerful as the American

01:14private sector. And if we are looking to increase prosperity abroad, I think we'll

01:21get a much higher rate of return from helping private sector money find its way to places

01:29where the private sector knows how best to spend it and how best to get returns. Not

01:34to say there's not a role for U.S. aid, but I think looking at this, maybe for too long,

01:39for decades, we've looked at this as American taxpayers sending aid dollars abroad. I would

01:46love to focus on how do we get the American private sector to improve the standard of

01:53living of countries abroad by investing, by increasing flows of capital to some of those

01:58other countries so they can build economy. Again, we saw that in China. There's no more

02:02powerful force than free market systems when those are operating. So again, I think your

02:07insight is a very important one. That's not to say there's not a role for certain government

02:11programs, and that's fine. But in terms of State Department resources, I think we have

02:15severely underinvested in the kind of programs you're talking about.

02:19People want to trade with the United States, and they benefit meaningfully from it. Their

02:22people benefit meaningfully from it. And so insofar as we can use that, that can really

02:26go a long way. It can make a really big difference. Mr. Whitaker, I'd like to go to you next.

02:32It is, in my view, in the view of many, including within the current administration, far past

02:38time for our NATO allies to take their own defense, their own security needs seriously.

02:44And the President, of course, has called for our allies to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense.

02:51Now, defense spending is at least in part driven by threat perceptions, by what people

02:57perceive as necessary in order to keep themselves safe. And the perception of a threat risk

03:07may vary a little bit between the East Bloc and the West Bloc, sort of within NATO, and

03:14it varies also depending on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you might be on.

03:19Defense spending is also a decision that is, of course, necessarily subject to domestic

03:26processes, to domestic scrutiny, to engagement normally with elected representatives, people

03:34who were elected to make law in their respective countries. In light of all these factors,

03:39how achievable, how reconcilable, how gettable is this sort of return to a proper burden

03:45shifting in light of all the challenges that we face there?

03:48Yeah, that's a great question, Senator. I enjoyed our time yesterday to talk about this.

03:53For a few minutes, it seemed like a couple lawyers nerding out on the law, but I did enjoy the discussion.

03:58It was kind of like that, I guess, wasn't it?

04:01But that being said, you're right. Defense spending is subject to domestic political

04:09concerns. And for too long, our European allies and Canada, many of them, have balanced their

04:17budgets of their domestic political concerns on the backs of the American taxpayer, who

04:22has taken our place in the world as the only superpower very seriously and has invested

04:27in our defense. Obviously, if confirmed, when I get over there, I look forward to the conversation

04:35with all of the members on this committee about whether or not our NATO allies are really

04:40committed to the alliance. They say they are. But again, are these politicians just providing

04:47empty promises, or are they actually stepping up, understanding that the world is dangerous

04:53and the U.S. is their best ally in a dangerous world?

04:57Right. That the U.S. is their best ally, albeit an ally that they're ready to cast aside the

05:03minute they decide to hold side meetings that don't include us when they're upset with us.

05:09But regardless, we have been holding, bearing a disproportionate share of their security

05:14umbrella for a very long time. It's been good for them insofar as their objective has been

05:20an inexorable march toward Western European-style socialism. But that doesn't necessarily make it

05:26fair to the United States of America or her taxpayers. Thank you.

Mike Lee Grills State Department Nom On Rethinking Foreign Aid To ‘Restore Economic Statecraft’

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