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

3 days ago

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.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

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’

Category

Transcript

Recommended