Locke predicts rosy future for trade with Asia

OLYMPIA – Gov. Gary Locke, the country’s first Chinese-American governor, is just home from his final trade mission, order books brimming and optimistic that booming markets in China, Vietnam and Thailand will mean jobs and prosperity for Washington state.

Locke and a 26-member delegation of leaders from business, agriculture, government and higher education logged over 17,000 miles in 10 days.

They met with government leaders including the president of China, the prime minister of Vietnam and the chief administrator of Hong Kong, and made a variety of business connections.

The group delivered a Boeing 777-200ER jetliner to Hanoi – the fourth in a lucrative new arrangement with Vietnam Airlines.

Locke and the delegation promoted a variety of Washington products and services including french fries, apples, wine, telecommunications, architectural services and a faculty exchange between Pierce College and Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Agriculture Director Valoria Loveland and delegates from the agribusiness sector went on to Thailand, making contacts that could be lucrative after the United States and Thailand sign a free-trade agreement and tariffs fall.

Locke said businesses rang up $1.4 million in sales on the Asia trip and expect to exceed $40 million in the coming year.

“Our trade missions yield results. We open doors,” Locke said, upbeat but jet-lagged.

This was the governor’s eighth such trip in eight years. He has also focused on Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Canada and Europe. He leaves office in January.

It was Locke’s third trip to China, where both his parents were born. China is Washington’s third-largest market, receiving more than $2.3 billion in goods and services last year. Only Texas and California exported more to China.

It was his first visit to Vietnam since a landmark trade pact was signed in 2001. The United States is Vietnam’s largest trading partner, with two-way trade of nearly $6 billion last year, and Washington is the leading export state, primarily Boeing airplanes.

China and Vietnam are hungry for Washington products including farm commodities, environmental cleanup technology, electrical power generating gear, medical equipment and professional services, the governor told a news conference.

Washington hopes to secure big contracts to help Beijing put on the 2008 Olympics.

Beth Willis of Tacoma, a trade expert who also represented the state’s community colleges on the trade mission, said the state will host a conference in November to link organizers of the Beijing Summer Games with Washington suppliers and professionals.

“We’re proud of our long-standing connection to China, and now our blossoming patterns of international trade and investment are being shaped by our growing friendship with China,” Locke said. “We’re also very enthusiastic about building a strong, lasting trade partnership with Vietnam.”

Apple and potato promotions in Thailand were well attended, Loveland said.

Free trade fosters human rights and offsets some of the U.S. offshoring of jobs by creating larger markets for American-made and American-grown products, Locke said.

“We were again reminded of the importance of face-to-face contact when developing international business relationships, and our delegates reported that the meetings and the contacts they made exceeded their expectations,” said state Trade Director Juli Wilkerson.

Locke agreed. “Healthy trade requires focus on relationships, not just transactions,” he said.”