30 MARCH 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL connection, or a city-to-city or city-to-nation connection. Stateto-nation is happening pretty frequently in the United States these days. Let me give you some examples. The former governor of Indiana has generated substantial investment in his state because of his very international perspective and reports that others have done the same. He told me, for instance, that dozens of international delegations were going to go to the Indy 500 this year. Elsewhere, the mayor of Phoenix traveled to Taiwan to seal a deal for a semiconductor fab coming to her city. Eleven U.S. cities are going to host the FIFA World Cup games—that will bring in lots of tourists from all over the globe. Jobs, trade, investment—that’s always number one for most mayors and governors. But there are other reasons, too, like finding solutions to shared challenges. Following terrible floods in Hoboken, New Jersey, the mayor created a partnership with the Netherlands because they have so much experience and all kinds of technology that can deal with floods. That kind of “best practice sharing” can be really magical when it’s done well. A governor or mayor might want to make connections that are important to a significant diaspora population that they have. I remember the mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania, telling me that “people bring their places with them” when they come. So he went to visit the Dominican Republic to get a better understanding of this big part of his population. And I know the mayor of Oklahoma City was very welcoming when Mexico opened a consulate in his city. There are also cultural connections of all kinds: thousands of sister cities, student exchanges, and musical events that enrich the lives of everyday Americans. Another reason to work internationally is to project the values of your city or your state. When I was deputy mayor, I went to a meeting of the U20 (Urban 20), which connects the big urban centers of the Group of 20 countries. Lots of these local actors work in global networks based on different issues. AFSA: Can you go into a little more detail about transnational challenges like climate change and migration? How does subnational diplomacy interact with those issues? NH: The United Nations projects that by 2050, two-thirds of the world population will be urban. Cities, counties, states, and regions are becoming the locus of many transnational challenges. Extreme weather events like wildfires and hurricanes, pandemics, the spread of synthetic opioids like fentanyl, cyberattacks on local infrastructure—local elected leaders are on the front lines of all these very global challenges. Of course, the State Department and other parts of the U.S. government are also working on those challenges. It makes sense to find synergies between work at the national and local levels. AFSA: The subnational diplomacy unit and your position were established two years ago. What was the vision? And what have been your main accomplishments there? NH: The team is small, but we’ve gotten a lot done. [In fact, Forbes called us a paragon of government efficiency, Hachigian later added.] We’ve had a lot of enthusiasm from the leadership of the State Department that has propelled us. The vision came from President [Joe] Biden’s objective of a foreign policy for the middle class. You have to reach out to places where Americans live. In our two years, we’ve connected with more than 5,500 elected leaders or staff in all states and territories. We’ve worked to connect local leaders to the benefits of working with the State Department and having input into U.S. foreign policy. One of the main priorities of mayors, governors, and county officials is economic growth, and they’re all interested in foreign direct investment [FDI]. How can we get a foreign company to set up a manufacturing facility or a research facility here? We help by providing local FDI data to them, for example. We also tell people about the amazing student exchanges that the State Department runs. There are so many of them, but they are not all well known. That’s something else elected leaders really like. But the bread and butter of our work is answering their questions. We get pinged all the time by mayors and governors across the country on a wide variety of issues. We’ve briefed governors in advance of their meeting heads of state, for example. In terms of how we help foreign policy, there are five ways that I think about it. First, local elected leaders help the State Department in terms of their expertise and their implementation in a range of areas. We’ve talked about job creation; but they also make local-level decisions that affect decarbonization, like procuring electric school buses that are healthier for kids. When we brief local leaders for engagements that they will have with “Best practice sharing” can be really magical when it’s done well.
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