Pawlenty to lead trade mission to China

02/23/2005

Dane Smith, Star Tribune
February 23, 2005

Gov. Tim Pawlenty will become the fourth consecutive Minnesota governor to lead a trade mission to China.

Against a banner at the Minnesota Science Museum advertising the “Chinasaurs” exhibit, Pawlenty announced plans for a one-week expedition in November that he described as a “more broad-based” effort to build closer relationships not only in business, but in “science, academia, arts, culture and humanitarian endeavors.”

China’s rapid economic growth continues to send waves through the world economy, Pawlenty said. It is Minnesota’s fourth-largest market for exported manufactured goods. And Minnesota’s exports to China have grown by 100 percent since 1997, compared with 67 percent for the United States as a whole, according to the Minnesota Trade Office.

“It’s exploding,” Pawlenty said. “If we were not there, we would be foolish.”

Pawlenty acknowledged criticism that freer trade with China has resulted in “outsourcing” and loss of some jobs in the United States, but he argued that the more important factor in job loss worldwide has been technological change, and that China itself has lost jobs for that reason.

Preliminary plans call for a mission of about 100 Minnesotans, most of them business officials from various industries traveling at their own expense, visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Previous Minnesota governors who have gone to China include Jesse Ventura, who led a similar-sized group to China in June 2002; Arne Carlson, who led a mission to other Asian nations as well; and Rudy Perpich, who was something of a pioneer among Minnesota governors acting as a world trade salesman in behalf of their states. Pawlenty so far has led missions to Canada and eastern Europe.

Minnesota, for its population size and location between the coasts, has many and unusually strong connections with China, Minnesota officials have long maintained. Trade links to Minnesota business go back to railroad empire builder James J. Hill in the 19th century. The University of Minnesota has one of the largest enrollments of Chinese students in the nation. Northwest Airlines was one of the first carriers to build routes into China after it opened up in the 1980s.

Pawlenty reminded his audience of a surprising geographic fact: that because of Minnesota’s northern location and the curvature of the earth, the Twin Cities metro area is the closest U.S. metro area with a major airline hub to China.