US ECONOMICS

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN / BALANCE OF TRAVEL

U.S. Department of State. 01/23/2020. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Greg Cassidy of The Bob Rose Show with Greg Cassidy, WSKY-FM Gainesville. Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State

QUESTION:  Good morning, Mr. Secretary.  You’re on the Bob Rose Show.  It’s good to have you.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Great to be with you, sir.

QUESTION:  Hey, within our listening area is the Sumter County Fairgrounds at Bushnell.  I know you’ve had a – you’ve got a busy morning and a busy afternoon.  Tell us a little bit about the speech you’re going to give there.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  So I’m looking forward to getting out to the fairgrounds this afternoon.  I want to share with the people who show up what President Trump has been doing as part of our foreign policy to deliver prosperity and safety and security to the American people.  We’ve had a successful three years and I want to share with them the mindset, the “America First” foreign policy that President Trump and our team has delivered over these past now 36 months.

QUESTION:  Where do we stand now with Iran after what’s happened recently?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  We’ve endeavored to do one simple thing, to get the Islamic Republic of Iran to behave like a normal nation.  I think your listeners would all know this is the world’s largest state sponsor of terror.  I was traveling in South America this past week.  The Iranians’ reach has come to South America and to Central America.  We’re trying to get them to behave like a normal nation and reduce the risk to the American people.  That’s been our mission set since the start of the administration.  We continue to make progress, but make no mistake about it:  This theocratic, revolutionary regime still intends to inflict harm around the world, and President Trump and our team have the responsibility to prevent it from impacting us here in the United States.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, I know you met with the opposition leader Juan Guaido in Venezuela.  So if I put two and two together, you’re saying there’s Iranian influence in Venezuela.  And why don’t we hear anything about Venezuela as of late?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  So, well, it marks now a year that President Guaido has been recognized by more than four dozen nations as the duly elected leader there.  President Trump’s guidance to our team has been to work to help the Venezuelan people restore their democracy, to create opportunity for them, and to ensure that Nicolas Maduro, who has caused so much harm in our region – 6 million people have been forced to leave their homes and depart from Venezuela.  Some of them have come all over the world.

We want to make sure we’re doing our part to support him and the Venezuelan people in their effort to deliver democracy and an opportunity just to take care of their families.  And part of my meetings down there, I met with foreign counterparts from all across the Caribbean and South America.  They’re now seeing Hizballah, Iran-backed organization, in their region as well.  This is a threat to the region and one that we collectively have to address.

QUESTION:  And also, I know you met with some of the Costa Rican leaders as well, and in – I think it was – had to do with Chinese influence.  I also saw a story recently where there was a large development that they had tried to get underway for some years now involving Frank Biden, the brother of the former vice president.  Does any of these things – are there connections between any of these things?  Because Joe Biden was, of course, in charge of a lot of our dealings with China while he was VP.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  When I was in Costa Rica, we were talking with the leadership there about the Chinese Communist Party.  Look, we all know China invests.  We want good things for the Chinese people, but oftentimes in countries, when the Chinese Communist Party shows up, they’re there for a reason that isn’t economic.  It’s not truly a commercial transaction.  It’s designed for political influence or to create a national security objective for a Chinese state-owned enterprise.

No country ought to be engaged in those kinds of transactions, and we’ve spent a lot of time in this administration talking to countries around the world, trying to identify them those very risks to their people and to Americans.  When American private information may flow across a network somewhere in South America or somewhere in Europe, we want to make sure and protect Americans’ privacy too.  And talking about the Chinese Communist Party and its role in Chinese communications is a part of that.

QUESTION:  Switching gears to Syria, from a foreign policy perspective, what is our goal in Syria?  What do we hope to see or have happen in Syria in general?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  So more broadly in the Middle East, President Trump’s mission has been twofold.  He’s directed us to ensure that we continue to prevent terrorism from coming to America from these places, something we all know so well and remember from now almost 20 years ago.  But second, we want to reduce the risk to soldiers who are stationed here in Florida, for Marines, airmen.  We want to reduce our cost, reduce our risk.  This is an “America First” foreign policy designed to accomplish those twin missions.

Syria’s no exception.  It’s an enormous humanitarian crisis, where there have been upwards of 5 million people that have had to flee their homes.  But America’s mission there is to ensure that we reduce the risk that ISIS or al-Qaida or any other terrorist group can ever inflict harm on an American.

QUESTION:  And here’s a – last but not least, and I know it’s complex, but I’m going to throw it at you anyway.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  All right.  I’m ready.

QUESTION:  Okay.  So, our dealings with Saudi Arabia through the years – we understand geopolitical, strategically – we understood oil from that perspective.  Now we’re self-sufficient.  Is Saudi Arabia really our friends?  And how do we handle them from a foreign policy perspective moving forward?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  So it is complicated, but suffice it to say the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has worked diligently to help us tamp down terrorism in lots of places.  I was the CIA director before I was the Secretary of State.  I watched them do work, good counterterrorism work right alongside of us.  We demand the same things from Saudi Arabia that we demand from every country.  They can’t support terrorism from their region.  When we see that happening, when we see bad actors in Saudi Arabia, we work alongside them to take down those threats on America.  They have been a good ally and a good partner in this counterterrorism fight, and we think that continues to be important for the United States of America and the security of our people.

QUESTION:  Well, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, it’s been a real pleasure.  I’m glad you had the time to talk to us.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thank you, sir.

QUESTION:  And a lot of folks are looking forward to seeing you this afternoon speaking at four o’clock at the Sumter County Fairgrounds, and we wish you safe travels.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thank you very much, sir.  I’m looking forward to it as well.  So long.

U.S. Department of State. 01/23/2020. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Jimmy Cefalo of South Florida’s First News, WIOD-AM Miami. Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State

QUESTION:  Well, he’s the Secretary of State, and of course he’s been in the news quite a bit, and will continue to be over the next couple of years at least, we hope.  We’re pleased to be joined this morning by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.  You can follow him on Twitter, by the way, @SecPompeo.  Morning to you, Mr. Secretary.  Thanks for joining us this morning.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Good morning, Jimmy.  It’s great to be with you.  Thanks for having me on the show today.

QUESTION:  Yeah.  Your name pops up periodically when talking about the impeachment trial, as to whether or not you might be subpoenaed there.  If the Democrats decide to call you, would you be willing to testify?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  I’ve said all along that if legally required to testify, I’d do that.  President Trump has always made clear to everyone on his team that we’ll always comply with every legal requirement.

QUESTION:  All right.  And he has said – when it came to John Bolton, for example, though, that some of these issues, when talking to his top advisors, could compromise national security.  You’re in agreement with that, I would imagine?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Oh, of course.  No, there’s lots of things.  First, the President is entitled to confidential advice from those senior people around him.  It’s really important.  You know this.  You need to be able to have private conversations so that you can think through hard problem sets to protect the American people.  So it’s absolutely the case that many of the things that happen in the Executive Office and with the President need to be something that the President can know will be private so that we can think through these difficult challenges to protect America.

QUESTION:  Then why would you think the Democrats would continue to push for these kind of conversations, knowing that this is certainly a possibility, that it could impact national security?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Yeah, you’d have to ask them.  I’ve watched this process.  It’s sadly become awfully political.  I hope the process will continue.  I hope it’ll come to its logical conclusion quickly.  I want to make sure that America and the American people are focused on the things that really matter to delivering good outcomes – more prosperous opportunity, jobs, all the things that our administration has been working on.

QUESTION:  Right.  Mr. Secretary, it seems that things with Iran have quieted down a bit, at least in the public eye.  A couple weeks ago, if you listened to a lot of the news media, or the Democrats, we were headed toward World War III.  And now we’re not hearing a lot.  What’s the latest on Iran?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Well, there’s still risk.  The efforts that the President undertook a couple weeks back when we took the strike against Qasem Soleimani, a man who, Jimmy, had killed hundreds of Americans, was engaged in plotting and planning to kill more Americans – we think we sent a strong message, as well as taking off a strategic player who was a terrorist, who’d done lots of harm to the United States of America.  They’re still the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran.  They had been given billions and billions of dollars by the previous administration to foment that terror campaign around the world and to build out their nuclear program.  And we are very focused on two things.  First, the President said they’ll never have a nuclear weapon.  We’re simply not going to let that happen.  And second, protecting people in Florida and all across America from the threat of Iranian terrorism.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, you talked a little about American values when it comes to foreign policy.  How does that apply to our part of the world here in south Florida, when we are concerned about Venezuela or concerned about Cuba.  How does that apply?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  So President Trump’s been very realistic about how our foreign policy ought to be conducted.  He’s not about nation-building; he’s about protecting the American people.  When we stare at the problem set – I met with Juan Guaido, the elected president of Venezuela, just this past week in Colombia – when we stare at this problem set, with these communist regimes in Cuba, in Nicaragua, in Venezuela, America has always been committed to trying to help those people establish democracies to stamp out communism.  We continue that effort.  It’s good for the region, it’s good for the people of those countries, and it’s important to the citizens of south Florida and people all across the United States.

QUESTION:  Do you believe we should move closer to Cuba?  I mean, it seems it’s a vacillating element.  With the previous administration, we were moving much closer, and people with families there were going over and back and forth and trading a lot of things.  And now that seems to have just all but shut down.  What’s your take on Cuba?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  President Trump doesn’t want to see trade taking place with Cuba that is benefiting the regime, benefiting these oppressive communist dictators who are treating their own people so horribly, so terribly.  So our mission set has been to do all that we can to support the people of Cuba, while making sure that money, dollars, trade, all the things that prop up this military, this junta, this set of dictators that have done so much harm to the people of Cuba – you know them so well, they live – so many live in this region.  Our mission set has been to create the conditions where the Cuban people can have the opportunity to throw off the yoke of communism.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, are you in south Florida?  If it’s a security issue, please don’t tell me.  I just wondered —

SECRETARY POMPEO:  No, I’m in Miami now, and then I’m headed up to Sumter County Fairgrounds a little later this afternoon.

QUESTION:  Okay, we were just wondering what you’re doing in south Florida.  I guess everybody comes through.  I hope you’re at least taking some time for yourself.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Sadly, I didn’t get much time, but I’m going to be with Governor DeSantis this morning and we’re going to talk about Venezuela and Cuba.

QUESTION:  Yeah, well, we hope to get a chance to talk to you again in the future.  Thank you so much.  You were very kind with your time this morning.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thank you so very much, sir.  Have a great day.

QUESTION:  Thank you.

U.S. Department of State. 01/23/2020. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Jack Harris and Aaron Jacobson of AM Tampa Bay, WFLA-AM Tampa. Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State

QUESTION:  Hey, good morning, Secretary Pompeo.  We certainly appreciate your joining us here on AM Tampa Bay.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  It’s great to be with you.

QUESTION:  Yeah, we hear you’re in Miami, and then later on this afternoon you’re going to head north up here north of us to Bushnell for a major speech and talking about U.S. foreign policy.  We want to ask you about the difficulties we’re facing in the Middle East now in Iran and Iraq.  And what’s our future going to be over there?  Are we moving away from that or are we going to be continued in involvement there or what?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  So President Trump’s made clear our policy is about protecting Americans, “America First,” if you will, from a foreign policy perspective.  We’re very realistic and pragmatic about how we approach this.  I think your listeners will recall when we came into office, the previous administration had handed billions of dollars to the Iranian regime.  They had the capacity to continue a glide path to a nuclear weapons program.  And President Trump is determined to make sure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.  It’s how he began his remarks the other day, by identifying that as the biggest priority.  So our mission set is twofold: to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and then to make sure that that country, the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, can’t inflict harm on Americans.  So we do everything we can each day to reduce that risk, all the while trying to deliver on the President’s commitment, which says we want to make sure we’re taking care of Americans.  So reducing our risk, reducing the number of American young men and women who are at risk in the Middle East is a twin objective for President Trump.

QUESTION:  What was the process like for you and the President, of course, earlier this month, with the death and the killing of Iranian military leader Soleimani?  What was that process like getting in the ear of the President and really leading up to that, noting obviously the threat that he is and finding the capabilities to take him out at the time that you did?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Well, we’d seen this man, terrorist Qasem Soleimani, who had the blood of hundreds of Americans on his hands.  We’d seen him traveling in the region.  He was in Beirut and in Damascus, and we knew he was headed to Baghdad, and he was working to plot against America, to take further American lives.  President Trump made the bold decision to say, “No more.  We’re not going to let this happen.”  And we found the capacity, the opportunity, and we took a strike, and we reduced the risk to the United States of America and our – members of our armed forces when we did that.

QUESTION:  The amazing thing is some people were upset.  Some Democrats were upset about that, saying that was the wrong thing to do, and I’m thinking, “I hardly think that was the wrong thing to do.”  You took out a murderous killer, a person who has taken American lives and everything, and it’s just great that it worked out successfully.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  He was a bad guy, a bad guy who killed people that I’m sure many of your listeners knew, service members who lost their lives or were severely injured as a direct result of the actions of Qasem Soleimani.  He was continuing his efforts.  He was putting more American lives at risk. And President Trump has made very clear we’re simply not going to accept that.  The – a few days before that, there had been an American killed in Iraq, and our response that day was appropriate, it was lawful, and it made America safer.

QUESTION:  It certainly did.  And you’ve also traveled now to Colombia and Costa Rica and countries in the Caribbean, and these have a lot of people who are trying to get into the U.S., and most of them illegally, which is not a good thing.  And of course, the President has campaigned to build that wall to try to keep them out.  I might add, I think ultimately we need to put three divisions of our military down there and protect America.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Well, your point’s quite right.  President Trump has made clear that we’re going to secure our southern border and other places where people may travel into the United States of America illegally.  We have to continue to do that.  The State Department has had a role in that.  We worked with the Mexican Government to develop a process whereby when someone was able to get through we could return them some place outside of the United States more quickly.  The Mexican Government was very cooperative.  They helped us.  They continue to do so, but as you can tell, there’s still more work to be done.  We have to be vigorous, we have to be vigilant, and we have to deliver on this commitment that President Trump made to the American people.  I think we’ve made real progress in President Trump’s three years on that important mission.

QUESTION:  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joining us.  You’ve got a busy day today.  9 a.m. you’re going to be meeting with Governor Ron DeSantis in Miami, then 4:00 you’ll deliver some of your remarks at the Sumter County Fairgrounds in Bushnell.  And then next week, you’ll be traveling to Ukraine to meet with President Zelensky, correct?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  It’s always busy times.  I’m looking forward to being with the governor – I’m looking forward to being with the governor today.  We’re going to talk with a number of Floridians about Venezuela and Cuba, these communist regimes, and how it is America can have a role in making lives better for those people while at the same time ensuring that we do the right thing for America too.  I’m looking forward to this morning.

QUESTION:  Well, thank you for the great job you do, and thank you for joining us on AM Tampa Bay.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thank you very much.  It’s great to be with you.  Have a great day.

U.S. Department of State. 01/23/2020. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Bud Hedinger of Good Morning Orlando, WFLA Orlando. Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State. Via Teleconference

QUESTION: As we’ve been telling you, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be in central Florida this afternoon, four o’clock this afternoon. He gives a major foreign policy address at the Sumter County Fairground in Bushnell near The Villages. More than a thousand people will be on hand, and we are honored to have Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with us live on Good Morning Orlando. Welcome to – welcome to the show and good morning. It’s great to have you here.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Good morning, sir. Good to chat with you, sir.

QUESTION: So, let’s talk about it. What will be the focus of your major foreign policy address here this afternoon?

SECRETARY POMPEO: So I want to share with the people of Florida what President Trump and our team are doing around the world to keep them safe and secure. We’ve had a successful three years in American foreign policy and want to articulate our vision for how we’ll carry that forward and what it is we’re doing and why this matters to the people of Florida.

QUESTION: How specific can you be? I mean, what is – what is the strategy moving forward?

SECRETARY POMPEO: So I’ll talk about President Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, which understands that the State Department’s primary mission, all of us involved in America’s national security, are primarily focused on ensuring that everything we do, whether it’s trade deals with foreign countries or how we marshal our forces or how we execute our diplomacy – every bit of that is focused on securing the well-being of the American people as our primary mission set. And you can see how that’s delivered, whether it was the work that we’ve done in the Middle East, the trade deal that was struck with the Chinese. All the elements of President Trump’s foreign policy are designed to provide a safe, secure, and prosperous America.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I know you’ve been traveling. More on that in a moment, but I know you’re aware of the impeachment trial ongoing in the U.S. Senate. What are your thoughts on that?

SECRETARY POMPEO: To be honest with you, I have been traveling. I haven’t paid much attention to it. The process will play its way out. I was involved in the foreign policy on Ukraine from the beginning of my time as Secretary of State, where we were aimed at two missions: reducing the amount of corruption inside of Ukraine and ensuring that we got the right systems, the right capabilities, the right ability for Ukraine to defend itself against the Russians in southeast Ukraine. Those were our two primary missions. We continue to be focused on those.

QUESTION: Over in Davos, the President mentioned that he – he’d be – like to have you testify as a witness but he’s concerned about national security issues. Are you available to do that, to get up there before the U.S. Senate and back the President?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, I’ve said before, if the Senate makes that decision and that’s what’s legally required, I’m happy to participate in that process. We’ve been focused in Ukraine on the singular mission of why this matters to America, what are the things we can do to keep Americans more safe, and how do we help the Ukrainians deliver democracy to their people as well.

QUESTION: I’m talking with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who speaks in central Florida later on today. You’ve just returned from visiting South America, Central America, and Jamaica. What came out of that trip, sir?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I went down there to talk about why these things matter to the United States and how our partnerships with these countries – I was in Colombia, I was in Costa Rica, I was in Jamaica, but met with leaders from all across the Caribbean and from South America, my counterpart in Brazil.

In every effort, we were focused on two things. We forget that terrorism exists in our hemisphere as well. Hizballah is in South America. The Iranian reach throughout Europe and South America exists, and we were talking about how we protect our region, how we make sure that terror doesn’t spread from South America to North America or from here around the Western Hemisphere. And then second, we were talking about the prosperity agenda, how we can develop trading relationships with these countries in a way that will create jobs and wealth and prosperity and opportunity for people right here in Florida.

QUESTION: Secretary Pompeo, our window here is pretty tight. We only have you for another minute or two, but in Venezuela, it’s the first anniversary, the election of Juan Guaido as president. Now, he’s recognized as the legitimate president of Venezuela by us and by more than 50 other countries, but dictator Maduro remains in power. Have we given up on trying to oust Maduro?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Absolutely not. I had the privilege to meet with Juan Guaido when I was in Colombia. He had traveled outside of Venezuela to meet with me. He is working to build his opposition forces. He’s working to build out what the Venezuelan people are demanding. They just want freedom and democracy.

Maduro has destroyed that country. There have now been 6 million people forced – just about 6 million people forced to flee that country. That’s almost 20 percent of their population. We are working to restore democracy in Venezuela so that the Venezuelan people can simply have the opportunity to take care of their families. President Trump remains firmly committed to that.

QUESTION: And where do we stand with Iran and with Iraq? And there’s sentiment there that we should be pulling our troops. Where do we stand on all of that?

SECRETARY POMPEO: President Trump’s made it very clear we want to reduce our risk and the cost that we have associated with our activities in the Middle East. He has similarly made clear to all of us on his team that we’ve got to continue to defend and protect America. We are trying to strike that right balance. I’m confident that we can do that.

Everyone remembers that we’ve had terror come to the United States from these places. We have an obligation to continue that mission, but we can do so in a way that reduces risk to our soldiers, to our sailors, to our airmen and Marines and still keep America safe.

QUESTION: In our final seconds, a final question: If President Trump asked you to continue as Secretary of State in his second term, would you do it?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I don’t do hypotheticals very much, but it has been an enormous privilege to serve for him, and I’ve said consistently, so long as President Trump wants me to be his Secretary of State, I feel privileged to have the opportunity to do so.

QUESTION: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. We’ll welcome you to central Florida today.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you. I’m looking forward to being at Sumter County Fairgrounds this afternoon.

QUESTION: God bless you, sir. Thanks for coming on.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, sir. So long.

U.S. Department of State. 01/23/2020. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Preston Scott of The Morning Show with Preston Scott, WFLA-FM Tallahassee. Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State

QUESTION:  All right, eleven minutes after the hour.  Good to have you with us this morning on the program a little early.  Thrilled to have with us United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.  Mr. Secretary, welcome to The Morning Show.  Thanks very much for making time for us this morning.  How are you, sir?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Yes, sir, I’m very good.  Thank you.  It’s great to be on your show.  Thanks for having me on.

QUESTION:  My pleasure.  You are heading to Bushnell, Florida to give a speech.  Give us a little snapshot.  What do you plan to talk about?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  I want lay out for the people of Florida this afternoon the work that President Trump and our administration has done to keep them safe.  I want to talk about American foreign policy in the Trump administration, how we are laser-focused on keeping Americans safe.  It’s an “America First” foreign policy.  And I want to talk about our successes, the things we still have in front of us, and the good work that we’re doing at the State Department to ensure that the risk to America is greatly reduced and our soldiers, our sailors, our airmen, and Marines, have to fight fewer places and fewer times and with less risk because of the good work that our team is doing.

QUESTION:  How different is it when you walk in the room with a foreign leader that you have not met with before, Mr. Secretary – how different is that reception now from maybe what it might have been under previous administrations?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Every foreign leader that I meet with understands that America is a force for good in the world and that President Trump is sincere in his efforts to make sure that America is doing what it needs to do for its own people, but that we have – we brook them no ill, we want good things for their people as well.  And that we have a successful economy that powers American national security, whether that’s our energy or our great innovation – all the things that are driving success and prosperity here in America are things that nations are longing to meet with America’s Secretary of State to see how we’re doing it and to try and work alongside of us.

QUESTION:  That was kind of his message in Davos, wasn’t it?  It was not just hey, America is open for business, things are going great.  Emulate us, unleash your people.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  That’s precisely right.  I was just in South America.  I was in Colombia, I was in Costa Rica, then I might with a number of Caribbean nations in Jamaica.  And what I was talking to them about was certainly national security issues, counterterrorism issues, but I was talking about the things that America has done to power our economy forward, to create the lowest unemployment numbers in recent history, and how if they worked with that, and they work with us, they can be successful in delivering that for their people as well.

QUESTION:  I can’t even imagine what a daily briefing is like for you, let alone the President.  But in your area of expertise serving as Secretary of State, what has your attention maybe more than any other area?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Goodness, it’s always hard to pick one.  It’s a complex world.  There are many challenges.  I stare at the risk in the region from terrorism.  I stare at a Chinese Communist Party that is expanding and creating risk.  While there’s enormous opportunity for commercial business and the trade deal we got done was a really good thing for the American people, the list is long.  It’s hard to identify a single thing.

What I know is this:  We have to be realistic about what America can deliver.  We have to be eyes wide open.  We can’t pretend.  We can’t pretend that sending hundreds of billions of dollars to the Iranian regime is going to make America safer.  We have to do the things that common sense tells us that will protect Americans and allow us to continue to live safe, prosperous, secure lives right here in places like Florida.

QUESTION:  Our guest is U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for just another moment or two.  Mr. Secretary, a story here – a mass gunman taking on, ambushing, a former associate of Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Qasem Soleimani.  When you see stories of associates of people inside the country now taking on some of the terrorist leaders inside the nation, does that bolster your ability to negotiate with the Iranian Government?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  So I’ve seen that reporting.  Here’s what I think has been unfortunate in what the American media has done with the stories in Iran.  The Iranian people understand that America is a force for good.  You’ve seen some of the pictures of them walking around, American flags that were placed on the floors purposely designed for them to walk on.  But the people are walking around.  It’s the leadership, it’s the Iranian regime, that has inflicted so much pain and suffering.  We see that, right?  People like Maduro in Venezuela.  These are tyrants.  These are terrorists.  These are people who don’t care about the basic humanity of each of us.

And so what I see inside of Iran and inside of Iraq too is people who are fed up with their governments, who are tired of it and need the world to simply come along and provide moral support and some assistance to let them deliver on what they want – just a chance to raise their family, to live a normal life, to work, to do all the things we value so much here in the United States of America.

QUESTION:  I know time is pressing, Mr. Secretary.  Thank you very much for your time this morning.  We wish you nothing but continued success as you represent our nation around the world.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thank you.

QUESTION:  Thank you, sir.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thank you, sir, and bless you.  Thanks for having me on the show today.

QUESTION:  My pleasure.

U.S. Department of State. 01/23/2020. Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Nora Gamez Torres of El Nuevo Herald and Miami Herald. Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State. Miami, Florida. Four Points by Sheraton Miami Airport West Hotel

QUESTION:  Thank you for doing this, Mr. Secretary.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Great to be with you.  Thank you.

QUESTION:  One year after imposing sanctions on the Maduro regime and the Cuban Government, they haven’t changed course.  So can you say why do you believe U.S. policy towards Cuba and Venezuela is working, and if the administration is actually testing a plan B?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Yeah, we’re determined.  We’re determined to support the Venezuelan people in their cry for democracy.  Maduro has destroyed the lives of so many Venezuelans.  Now some 6 million people by the end of this year will have fled.  That’s almost 20 percent of the Venezuelan population, so our mission has been to build out a global coalition.  We’ve done that.

There’s now more than four dozen countries that recognize Juan Guaido as the duly elected leader.  I had a chance to see him just a couple days ago.  He’s strong.  He’s building out his support throughout the country.  Maduro’s still there.  He’s being supported by the Cuban security forces, being supported by Russia.  We’re doing our best to deny the Venezuelan regime the resources and capabilities to continue to impose tyranny on the Venezuelan people and trying to support the Venezuelan democracy movement along with all of our allies in the region, the Organization of American States, the Lima Group, European countries, all of whom want a better life for the Venezuelan people.

All we’re asking is for a free and fair election.  We’re confident when the Venezuelan people get that, we can begin to rebuild this once great democracy and their economy.

QUESTION:  Russia supported Maduro’s latest attempt to seize the control of the National Assembly.  Is the U.S. ready to impose sanctions on Russia?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  I never get out in front of decisions on sanctions, but we’re looking closely.  We’re looking closely at every element, resources.  How is the Maduro regime still getting money?  We know that much of its behavior is cartel-like, is terror-like.  It’s like the old days, where he’s now running something that looks more like a drug cartel than a real government.

We’re confident that the people of Venezuela will never again support Maduro and his thugs from being their leaders.  He may still have control of the military today, but we know what the Venezuelan people ultimately want.  We’re determined to do all that we can to assist them in achieving that end.

QUESTION:  He has said that he want negotiations with the U.S., but has he given any signal that he wants to negotiate his exit?  And is the U.S. still willing to offer guarantees that he’s not going to be prosecuted if he leaves?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  We’ve seen no indication, in spite of many conversations – the Norwegians led a conversation; other people from around the world have had a lot of conversations with those around Maduro.  We’ve seen no indication that he’s prepared to permit there to be free and fair elections in Venezuela.  That’s the standard that we demand.  We’re going to continue to work to achieve that.  We don’t know – just like we didn’t know the precise date that the Soviet Union would fall, we don’t know precisely when the Maduro regime will leave, but we know that day is coming.

QUESTION:  We heard that Interim President Juan Guaido is planning to come to the U.S.  How likely is a meeting between President Trump and Mr. Guaido?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  We’ll have to see.  I was able to meet with him in Bogota.  It was great.  He’s now traveling to Europe.  I think he’s still there.  He was meeting with European leaders while he was traveling to Brussels and then I think onto Davos and then through Spain and then back home.  I think Juan Guaido wants to spend a lot of time with the Venezuelan people.  Those are the people who elected him.  Those are the people who have made him the duly elected leader of that country.  And those are the people that he has taken an enormous personal risk to serve.

QUESTION:  Is the U.S. considering further sanctions against the Cuban Government?  And if so, how can you assure that those measures won’t hurt Cuban families already affected by some restrictions on visa and air traveling?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Yeah, so it’s a great question.  It’s always something that we consider very carefully.  We love the Cuban people.  We wish them enormous success.  Indeed, we expend a lot of energy and time to try and help them have that success.  At the same time, the policies of the previous administration were putting lots of money in the pockets of the regime.  The very leaders, the very dictators, the very communists that have repressed the Cuban people for so many decades now were being bolstered and supported by some of the commercial activity that’s taking place.

So our mission set has been to do our best not to harm the Cuban people – indeed, just the opposite of that: to create space where there’ll be an opportunity for democracy and freedom and the economy inside of Cuba to flourish while not lining the pockets of the corrupt leadership there.

QUESTION:  One question on Guaido – when he returns to Venezuela, if, for example, Maduro arrests, would that be a redline for the U.S.?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  I think the Maduro regime understands very clearly that arresting Juan Guaido or other senior leaders of the National Assembly is something that we would – we, not just the United States, we, the leaders all across the world who have supported Venezuelan democracy – would view as a very serious attack on the freedom and the rights of the Venezuelan people.

QUESTION:  One last question.  Haiti’s president is ruling by decree and he’s speaking now about reforming the constitution rather than holding elections.  What’s the U.S. position on this?  And what would you say to critics who say the U.S. is helping – keeping him in power, despite the charges of corruption he’s facing in his country?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  There were elections in Venezuela on the 5th of January where the National Assembly came together and once again selected Juan Guaido to be their leader and —

QUESTION:  Oh, I’m sorry.  I was talking about Haiti.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Oh, I’m sorry.  I misunderstood your question.  Can you ask it again?

QUESTION:  Sure.  Yeah.  I think – well, Haiti’s president is ruling by decree right now and he’s speaking about reforming the constitution rather than holding elections.  So I would like to know what’s the U.S. position on that.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Yes.  We’re very concerned about that.  I met yesterday while I was in Kingston, Jamaica with the Haitian foreign minister.  We urged them to set a timetable, set a firm date for those elections.  That is the most important thing.  We think the Haitian Government has the capacity and the capability and the lawful right to do that.  We need to have the elections.  That is important.  Once those elections will be held, there’ll be a duly elected government.  We won’t have to be concerned about ruling by decree.

QUESTION:  Do we have question for one more time or we’re good?

STAFF:  We have about 30 seconds.

QUESTION:  Okay.  Just quick.  Do you get any reassurances for European governments that they’re going to do more regarding Venezuela?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Yes.  I’m confident that European governments share the same concern that American citizens all across Florida and the United States have about what’s taking place in Venezuela.  We work closely with them on this matter.  They, too, understand that time is short to get Maduro to leave.

QUESTION:  Thank you so much, sir.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Great.  Thank you very much.  I appreciate it.

U.S. Department of State. 01/23/2020. Remarks at the South Florida Economic Summit. Manisha Singh, Assistant SecretaryBureau of Economic and Business Affairs. Miami, Florida

Thank you, Jay, and thank you to the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you today.

Estoy encantada de esta en Florida de nuevo donde esta mi corazon.  En particular, en la ciudad de Miami donde yo estudie.  And I am looking forward to visiting my alma mater later on this visit.

It is especially nice to speak to a group of people who are the drivers of economic growth in the Sunshine State.

As the head of the Economic Bureau at the State Department, it is my role to promote American prosperity worldwide. And since Miami really is the gateway for commerce with our friends in Latin America, I thought I would focus today on the importance of these relationships.

The United States is a top trading partner for nearly two-thirds of the Western Hemisphere’s 34 countries.  We trade twice as much with the region as we do with China.

We have a lot happening to further strengthen the partnerships while providing new opportunities for your businesses.

As you may know, both the House and Senate have passed the United States-Canada-Mexico Trade Agreement, or USMCA (often confused with the popular Village People song YMCA).

It is an important and critical modernization of NAFTA to embrace the economy of the future.  And President Trump will be signing the new agreement any day now fulfilling the promise to the American people to make trade work for everyone, creating an economy which benefits everyone.

This is where my bureau plays a central role in the Administration’s economic strategy. We have a team of over 200 men and women in Washington with almost 2,000 economic officers posted at our embassies and consulates around the world.

Our job is to help facilitate opportunities for American workers and companies.  We want to address the barriers you face when scaling and growing your enterprises.  Whether you are small company or a multinational enterprise, we are committed to your success.

I also firmly believe the commercial ties build bridges between nations and promote better understandings. That is the definition of economic diplomacy– which is at the core of our efforts to advance the overall strategic and foreign policy priorities of the United States.

As President Trump’s National Security Strategy declares, “Economic security is national security.”  From that, in my bureau, we derived the mission of empowering growth and securing our future.

Turning back to the USMCA, it is a great example of empowering growth in the hemisphere.

The new agreement is a particularly strong example of economic policy working for Americans.  From the beginning, the update focused on advancing the interests of American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses.

The result is a comprehensive trade agreement that will further open two of America’s top export markets to our goods and services, while bringing stability and growth to the region as a whole.

Our shared borders and deep bonds with both Mexico and Canada tie the empowerment of growth and security of our future collectively with them.

With the agreement, American workers can expect to see new gains and opportunities.  The US International Trade Commission estimates the addition of hundreds of thousands of new jobs and an increase in economic growth of more than $68 billion.

New customs and trade rules will cut red tape, making it easier for small businesses to access foreign markets and excel in cross-border trade.

The positive impacts of USMCA will certainly be felt here in Florida because of the significant amount of trade you currently have with our neighbors to the south and north.

In 2018, this state exported more than $7 billion of goods to them.  More than $476 million of these exports were agricultural products, including world-famous Florida oranges, grown in my hometown area of Polk County.

Trade with Mexico and Canada alone already supports more than 750,000 Floridian jobs.  We hope to see that number grow.

The USMCA will benefit the automotive sector, which employs more than 450,000 people in this state and drove $4.8 billion of exports from your ports in 2018.

The Agreement requires that 75 percent of auto content be made in North America and that a significant part of this work be done by workers earning at least $16 per hour.

This protects American manufacturing jobs and wages from unfair competition overseas.  We want a level playing field.

When it comes to strengthening American agriculture, Mexico and Canada are essential partners.  Nearly one-third of U.S. agricultural exports go to our North American neighbors.

As U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said, “USMCA benefits Florida’s entire agricultural industry.  By ensuring better market access and solidifying commitments to science-based trade rules with our top trading partners, USMCA is a big win.”

It is estimated that USMCA will increase U.S. agriculture exports by more than $2 billion annually, providing new market access for American dairy and poultry products to Canada.

Turning to services exports, more than half of all such trade is delivered to customers overseas via digital platforms.  USMCA includes a first-of-its-kind chapter on digital trade that contains the strongest commitments of any international trade agreement.

The Agreement includes groundbreaking provisions to prohibit the application of customs duties and other discriminatory measures to products distributed electronically, including video, music, and software. This sets a new standard, preventing artificial trade barriers from limiting how – and with whom – tech firms can do business.

With thousands of high tech firms and startups popping up in the Sunshine State every day — these provisions matter for Florida’s economy, both today and in the decades to come.

Similarly, USMCA fosters American innovation through updated intellectual property rights protections.  Protection of creative ideas and innovation impacts the success of the state’s theme parks, which are multi-billion dollar businesses founded on one-of-a-kind stories and characters that are protected by strong copyright and trademark systems.

Tomorrow I will meet with leaders in Florida’s life sciences and biotechnology sectors, whose life-saving research is enabled by critical IP protection for their innovative products, also supported by our intellectual property laws and reciprocal international commitments.

I could go into much more detail about how USMCA liberalizes financial services markets.  How it emphasizes labor and environmental provisions that will protect American jobs and wages.  How it benefits small and medium-sized businesses – which account for 95 percent of Florida exporters – with a stand-alone chapter that establishes information-sharing tools that will help SMEs to better understand and utilize the benefits of the Agreement.

However, I will just say that President Trump’s signature on this agreement is a victory for the American worker and it brings us into a prosperous economy of the future.

Beyond the USMCA, the Trump Administration is committed to our relationships in the Western Hemisphere, and this includes securing a better future for all its citizens.

An example of this is our pressure on the Maduro regime in Venezuela to recognize the rightfully elected President Juan Guaido.  The regime has taken a beautiful, prosperous nation and deprived its people of control of their own fate.

Millions of Venezuelans have fled to neighboring nations creating a refugee crisis that has been traumatic for the entire region.

Secretary Pompeo recently met with Interim President Guaido in Colombia and spoke of freedom for the Venezuelan people and assured them of our support.  We want to see a return of liberty and economic prosperity for them. Neighboring Colombia has been a model of economic reform and become a strong trading partner for the U.S.

We have a deep commitment to this region.  Secretary Pompeo also recently visited with heads of state from many Western Hemisphere nations to discuss our shared interests.

He also spoke earlier this month at the Organization of American States and quoted from a declaration adopted by the OAS which stated: “All men are born free and equal, in dignity and in rights, and being endowed by nature with reason and conscience, they should conduct themselves as brothers one to another.”

An important thought at this moment in time for us all.  We want to see all the citizens of all nations in the hemisphere be equipped with human dignity.

Here in America, we have seen an economic revitalization with strong growth, low unemployment and more opportunities for American workers.  I’m particularly pleased that Florida has seen positive momentum.

This week President Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum. He spoke of our strong economy and he said “Together we must go forward with confidence, determination and vision. We must not be timid or meek or fearful- but instead we must boldly seize the day and embrace the moment.” He recognized the great leaders in the room.

And I’d like to do the same here today.  You are the visionaries in your communities.  You are the heart of Florida and of the strong economy which is enabling everyone here to achieve the American dream.

You also have great leaders in Governor DeSantis, Senator Rick Scott and Senator Marco Rubio.  I will forever be proud to call myself a Floridian.  And I’ll keep working to make sure that we at the State Department, we in Washington remain humbly at your service.

Thank you again to the Greater Miami Chamber for having 2020 vision and a spectacular South Florida Economic Summit.

________________

LGCJ.: