The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019 31 E conomic security is national security, and national security is economic security. This statement might have aroused some eye- rolling from State Department “old boys” around Foggy Bottom, on Capitol Hill and around the Washington elite cocktail circuit of the 1950s and 1960s. But, as in somany other areas, the worlds of economic and commercial diplomacy have been increas- ingly mainstreamed into today’s policies and strategies for national security in the United States and around the world. China’s ambitious Belt and Road strategy, with its use of aggressive financing and promotion of Chinese companies and labor to further its geopolitical aims, underscores the challenge that the U.S. government—and U.S. commercial interests—face throughout the world. Trade promotion, smashing foreign market access barriers and helping U.S. exporters and investors win competitive deals are front-page SixElementsof EffectiveEconomic/ CommercialDiplomacy Shaun Donnelly is a retired State Department economic-coned Foreign Service officer, now working as vice president for investment policy and financial services at the U.S. Council for International Business. He held a series of senior positions in the State Depart- ment’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, including five years as principal deputy assistant secretary. He also served as U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and as assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East. Daniel Crocker is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service in the Commerce Department, and is currently the Foreign Commercial Service vice president on the Governing Board of the American Foreign Service Association. His most recent overseas assignment was as commercial counselor in Madrid. He previously served in Mexico, Brazil, Panama and the Dominican Re- public, in addition to stints at Commerce headquarters as director of the Office of Digital Initiatives and executive director for the Western Hemisphere. He is a member of the 2017-2019 AFSA Governing Board and FCS vice president. BY SHAUN DONNE L LY AND DAN I E L CROCKER ECONOMIC DIPLOMACYWORKS FOCUS issues these days and can win State and Commerce Depart- ment officers recognition and promotions. Presidents, national security advisors and Cabinet secretaries of both parties over the past two or three decades have come to see this new importance of commerce and economics in broader U.S. foreign policy. Most observers also acknowledge the need for the U.S. government to step up its efforts in economic/commer- cial diplomacy. Three fundamental realities underline the importance for our country of an effective economic/commercial diplomacy pro- gram. First, more than 80 percent of global purchasing power now lies outside the United States, including several large emerging markets with annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates that are double our own, or more. Second, it’s an ultra-competi- tive world; in all key sectors, American companies face broader, deeper and more aggressive foreign competitors, some of whom promote their standards, military platforms and state-subsidized or state-owned companies for both commercial and political gain.