Remarks by Under Secretary Marisa Lago at 61st Annual U.S.-Japan Business Conference

Washington, DC 

October 10, 2024

As Prepared for Delivery

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Doug. I’ve long admired how, in addition to being such an accomplished business executive, you’ve realized the importance of being a good corporate citizen, a public citizen — including through your leadership of the U.S.-Japan Business Council.

Thank you, Suzanne. The U.S. Chamber is an invaluable partner to ITA — both here in DC, but also through your affiliates around the world. I travel near constantly, and my trips always benefit from meeting with the AmChams in the countries that I visit.

Finally, thank you to Chairman Sawada Jun for your leadership of this Council, and for bringing such a strong delegation.

Now, you heard earlier this morning from geopolitical experts on the incredibly strong U.S.-Japan relationship, including from the Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.  

So, you know that our relationship is as strong as ever, both multilaterally (as evidenced by President Biden’s recent hosting of the 4th Quad Leaders’ Summit), and bilaterally (with Prime Minister Kishida’s State Visit this past April).  

So, I’ll focus on the commercial facets of our relationship, which is the remit of the U.S. Department of Commerce.  

Let’s start with some statistics. The Department of Commerce loves statistics! The United States and Japan are each country’s largest source of foreign direct investment. In the United States, Japanese investment supports nearly one million U.S. jobs. Meanwhile, Japanese exports to the United States reached a near-record high of over $145 billion last year — benefiting Japanese businesses, workers and the national economy.

Beyond increasing two-way trade and investment, deepening U.S.-Japan commercial cooperation has increasingly meant strengthening mutual economic security — which is a core pillar of each of our countries’ national security. And this growing focus on the broader geopolitical stakes has especially shaped the ambitious agenda of the U.S.-Japan Economic 2+2.

U.S. Under Secretary of State José Fernández, Japan’s Senior Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Akahori, METI Vice Minister Matsuo and I recently hosted an Economic 2+2 Vice-Ministerial meeting. We covered an extensive array of economic and commercial priorities, including semiconductor supply chains. I’m pleased that experts at the U.S. Department of Commerce and METI are continuing to regularly coordinate in order to align our approaches to incentives, R&D, and, importantly, workforce development.

At the Economic 2+2, we also discussed critical mineral supply chains, including for the three G’s: graphite, gallium and germanium. This led to a useful discussion about ongoing and potential future actions to address non-market policies and practices by other countries, including overcapacity and economic coercion.  

Not surprisingly, at the Economic 2+2, we spent a lot of time discussing the promotion and protection of critical and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and cybersecurity.  

We’re especially pleased that Prime Minister Ishiba is creating a new cabinet minister position for cybersecurity. We look forward to working with the new minister, building on the cybersecurity business development mission that U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves led to Tokyo last September.

In the field of artificial intelligence, the U.S. AI Safety Institute — which is housed in the U.S. Department of Commerce — is working with Japan’s recently launched AI Safety Institute and eight other initial members to launch an international network of AI Safety Institutes. Spanning from the EU to Singapore, to Kenya, this network — the first of its kind — will bring together all of our technical experts to help align policies on AI safety and to advance shared interests in the responsible use of AI. Together with Japan and other like-minded allies and partners, the United States wants safety, security and trust to underpin the rules of the road for AI. And that’s why U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo especially looks forward to hosting this network’s first-ever convening, which will be held next month in San Francisco.

I’ll now turn to another major multilateral priority that is shared by the United States and Japan: IPEF, or the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity. IPEF continues to make significant progress on strengthening supply chains, accelerating the clean energy transition and combating corruption across the Indo-Pacific. Japan has been an indispensable partner since the start — including hosting President Biden and the founding partner nations in Tokyo for IPEF’s launch in 2022.

A special shout out goes to Japan for serving as Vice Chair of IPEF’s Crisis Response Network. As one of IPEF’s three different supply-chain focused bodies, the Crisis Response Network is preparing for potential disruptions and mitigating impacts on our businesses, workers and economies. Last month, we hosted the first in-person meeting of the IPEF Crisis Response Network in Washington. It was a practical, “roll up your sleeves” session that included an emergency simulation exercise to map out how to effectively respond to a supply chain snarl and how to strengthen the resilience of the region’s supply chains.

Overall, the 14 IPEF partner nations have made impressive progress — it’s been under three years since the initiative launched. But the agreements that we’ve negotiated and signed are only the beginning. The United States looks forward to continuing to work with Japan and the other IPEF partner nations to translate these agreements into tangible benefits for millions of businesses, workers and communities across the Indo-Pacific.

Before I close today, I’d be remiss not to highlight this year’s official designation as U.S.-Japan Tourism Year, with the goal of accelerating the post-pandemic recovery of the travel and tourism industries in both of our countries. Japan was the second-largest source of overseas travelers to the United States before the COVID-19 pandemic, sending 3.8 million visitors annually and contributing $13 billion in spending to the U.S. economy. We’re making steady progress, rebounding to a projected 2.6 million Japanese visitors this year. But, in the next several years, my team forecasts that we’ll break new records — passing 4 million Japanese visitors by 2028. This international travel brings more than just economic benefits. These exchanges also strengthen invaluable people-to-people ties between our two countries — countries that share core democratic values and a common economic vision for the world.

Thank you for your commitment to the U.S.-Japan commercial relationship. The U.S. Department of Commerce looks forward to continuing to work with our colleagues in both the public and private sectors — and in both countries — to further enhance this relationship, and to generate even more economic benefits for our businesses, workers and communities. Arigato gozaimasu.