WEBVTT - US Energy Secretary Chris Wright Talks China Deal

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Here's the latest, President Trump tasing an energy deal with

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<v Speaker 2>China after both countries reach a tariff and rare Earth

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<v Speaker 2>agreement joining US now. I am so pleased to say,

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<v Speaker 2>is US Energy Secretary Chris right from Toronto where he

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<v Speaker 2>is in the G seven meetings with other world leaders

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<v Speaker 2>talking about energy and what can be done to build

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<v Speaker 2>out US Energy Secretary, thank you so much for being

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<v Speaker 2>with us. I want to start with this deal that

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<v Speaker 2>President Trump was hinting at with China, talking about Alaska oil.

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<v Speaker 2>What details can you provide us with? What contours of

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<v Speaker 2>this transaction do you expect to come to light.

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<v Speaker 1>Look that China is by far the world's largest importer

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<v Speaker 1>of oil and importer of natural gas. The US is

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<v Speaker 1>by far the world's largest exporter of natural gas and

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<v Speaker 1>by far the world's largest producer of oil. So there's

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<v Speaker 1>so much space for mutually beneficial deal between the US

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<v Speaker 1>and China. Alaska was mentioned in that deal Dialogue's enormous

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<v Speaker 1>reserves on the Alaskan slope. They've been strangled by the

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<v Speaker 1>Biden administration and Alaskan production has been in decline, but

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<v Speaker 1>lots of room for that production to grow lots of

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<v Speaker 1>room to bring natural gas from the north slope of

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<v Speaker 1>Alaska and bring that to all of our allies along

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<v Speaker 1>the East Asian Rim, or frankly anywhere in the world.

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<v Speaker 1>But President Trump is just a master negotiator. He finds

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<v Speaker 1>out what is it that's critical to the Chinese, what

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<v Speaker 1>is it that's critical to the United States, and finds

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<v Speaker 1>that sweet spot of a deal that works for both countries.

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<v Speaker 3>Could potentially the United States fill a gap if China

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<v Speaker 3>decides to buy less energy from Russia, especially since the

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<v Speaker 3>US government sanctioned Royceneft and Luke Oil.

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<v Speaker 1>Absolutely, Absolutely, today the US produces fifty percent more oil

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<v Speaker 1>than Russia or Saudi Arabia, and it just puts not

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<v Speaker 1>just the United States, but the world in a better position.

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<v Speaker 1>Can we squish out half of Russian oil exports and

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<v Speaker 1>still have a roughly balanced oil market? Absolutely we can.

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<v Speaker 1>Have you been in.

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<v Speaker 3>Touch as well with your counterparts in South Korea? The

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<v Speaker 3>President coming back on this strip, talked about the tariff

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<v Speaker 3>right in South Korea and the plan for them to

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<v Speaker 3>buy oil and gas in vast quantities part of that

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<v Speaker 3>trade deal.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, you know, I've been in dialogues with the Korean

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<v Speaker 1>staff since I arrived in the office. You know, Korea

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<v Speaker 1>is a great industrial nation, also short on energy resources

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<v Speaker 1>but long on other assets. So yeah, lots of room

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<v Speaker 1>for United States to grow our role in supplying natural gas, oil,

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<v Speaker 1>and frankly nuclear technology to South Korea.

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<v Speaker 3>I bring this up because it sounds like, are you

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<v Speaker 3>preparing some sort of trip to the Asia Pacific if

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<v Speaker 3>you have to meet with your Chinese counterparts and your

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<v Speaker 3>South Korean counterparts for the United States to send more

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<v Speaker 3>energy to that part of the world.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh, I go wherever the President tells me. But yes,

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<v Speaker 1>I would be going to Asian in a few weeks,

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<v Speaker 1>and heck, I may be going sooner than that. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>I'll get debriefed from all the dialogues and all what

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<v Speaker 1>must be done promptly in the follow up. Could be

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<v Speaker 1>heading there very shortly, but I don't know about that

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<v Speaker 1>right now. But of course Asia is the center of

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<v Speaker 1>the world economy after the United States, So yeah, that's

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<v Speaker 1>a critical alliance, is critical partnerships and critical oil demand sources.

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<v Speaker 2>Mister Secretary, I feel like we should have a map

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<v Speaker 2>here of all the places where you've got trips planned

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<v Speaker 2>because I suspect that you're going to be heading to

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<v Speaker 2>Greece soon too, and the old idea of how much

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<v Speaker 2>the US is exporting in terms of energy to the

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<v Speaker 2>European region, especially as they reduce reliance on Russia. Can

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<v Speaker 2>you tell us anything about how that relationship is developing.

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<v Speaker 1>Actually, it's been great dialogues. I think the European nations.

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<v Speaker 1>The war in Ukraine really crystallized. Yes, it wasn't a

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<v Speaker 1>good idea to have all of our key energy supply

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<v Speaker 1>coming from Russia, largest supplier of oil to them, largest

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<v Speaker 1>supplier of natural gas to them, largest supplier of coal

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<v Speaker 1>to Europe, and the United States has slid in to

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<v Speaker 1>display Russia as the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe.

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<v Speaker 1>We can do the same thing with oil, and I

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<v Speaker 1>think we're today the second largest supplier of coal to Europe.

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<v Speaker 1>So I think there's mutual agreement on on both sides. There.

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<v Speaker 1>Certainly there's some regulations in Europe cs Triple D, which

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<v Speaker 1>is just a way overreach in the regulatory regime that's

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<v Speaker 1>going to make it sticky to ramp up energy movement

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<v Speaker 1>as fast as we'd like. But we're in constant dialogue

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<v Speaker 1>to fix those problems. I'm excited about the future relationship

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<v Speaker 1>between the European nations and the United States. It's always

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<v Speaker 1>been good, but I think it's going to grow a lot,

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<v Speaker 1>Mister Secretary.

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<v Speaker 2>A lot of people come on the show talk about

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<v Speaker 2>their concerns about higher energy prices in the United States.

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<v Speaker 2>They talk about artificial intelligence, the power demands, the inability

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<v Speaker 2>to really provide the energy that would be required to

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<v Speaker 2>expand at the pace that a lot of AI giants

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<v Speaker 2>are talking about.

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<v Speaker 1>How do you plan to mitigate that?

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<v Speaker 2>Is there a level at which power prices get so

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<v Speaker 2>expensive that Theited States will reduce some of the exports

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<v Speaker 2>to the rest of the world.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, they are actually different factors that control them. Like

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<v Speaker 1>our large exports of natural gas today are actually still

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<v Speaker 1>relatively modest compared to the amount of gas we produce,

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<v Speaker 1>and we can easily produce vastly more natural gas today.

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<v Speaker 1>So power prices. The problem isn't the price of natural gas.

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<v Speaker 1>The problem is the infrastructure, you know, generation facilities, transmission lines.

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<v Speaker 1>The Biden administration for four years forced the closure of

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of coal plants, a few gas plants, prevented

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<v Speaker 1>the building of new coal and natural gas power plants.

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<v Speaker 1>They said, they built a lot of unreliable, intermittent electricity

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<v Speaker 1>that's spread all over the country that takes more transmission assets.

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<v Speaker 1>All of that goes into the rate base and has

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<v Speaker 1>pushed up prices. Frankly, it's part of the reason why

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<v Speaker 1>President Trump got elected. So we're having to reverse all

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<v Speaker 1>those things. Stop the closure of coal plants, make it

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<v Speaker 1>easier to build new natural gas plants, make new sources

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<v Speaker 1>that want to come on be successful commercially, not dependent

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<v Speaker 1>upon subsidies, and not require massive new transmission investments that

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<v Speaker 1>all just go on to the rate payers. So we're

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<v Speaker 1>doing a lot of things at FIRK. We had a

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<v Speaker 1>big announcement last Thursday. I probably can't go into here,

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<v Speaker 1>but specifically aimed at artificial intelligence, how we can speed

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<v Speaker 1>new firm generation without driving up the price of electricity.

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<v Speaker 1>I share the American consumers' worries about the recent rises

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<v Speaker 1>and price of electricity over the last four years, and

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<v Speaker 1>I'm working seven days a week to stop those price

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<v Speaker 1>rises and enable the United States to lead in artificial intelligence.

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<v Speaker 3>We've seen one of the most significant significant announcements from

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<v Speaker 3>this administration when it comes to nuclear The government is

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<v Speaker 3>planning this partnership eighty billion dollars for nuclear reactors with

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<v Speaker 3>a Canadian company, Westinghouse. Who will develop them? And where

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<v Speaker 3>can you give us more details about this?

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<v Speaker 1>Oh? I would call Westinghouse an American company. It's a

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<v Speaker 1>legacy American company and its majority owned by the Americans.

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<v Speaker 1>It has a Canadian partner in Chemico, but it's an

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<v Speaker 1>American company. This is a plan to partner across the

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<v Speaker 1>country at a few different locations to build. As you

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<v Speaker 1>saw in the announcement, they gave dollar amounts, but a

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<v Speaker 1>large amount of power. Think of order ten gigawatts of

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<v Speaker 1>new electric generating production capacity, and to do it in

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<v Speaker 1>a way that's efficient. So instead of one here and

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<v Speaker 1>one starting a few years later, we want to stage

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<v Speaker 1>in the construction of these plants to most efficiently use

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<v Speaker 1>construction workers, assemblers, fabrication so that we lower the cost

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<v Speaker 1>of nuclear generation, restand up the supply chain in the

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<v Speaker 1>United States. This is quite an exciting project and more

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<v Speaker 1>details will come out as we fill in. As we

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<v Speaker 1>fill in those dots. But the President Trump promised to

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<v Speaker 1>relaunch nuclear energy, unleash a nuclear renaissance in the United States.

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<v Speaker 1>This is a big part of that.

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<v Speaker 3>Effort, and just I wanted to get your take on

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<v Speaker 3>a reversal we've seen from Bill Gates, someone who's long

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<v Speaker 3>talked about climate change, he's sort of pivoting his stance,

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<v Speaker 3>and according to his staff, you recently met with him,

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<v Speaker 3>did you have a hand in how now he's talking

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<v Speaker 3>about energy.

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<v Speaker 1>I've had multiple great dialogues with Bill Gates over the

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<v Speaker 1>last year, at multiple times and at some length. Of course,

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<v Speaker 1>he's a very thoughtful, successful entrepreneur, and climate change is

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<v Speaker 1>a real thing. It's a real challenge. It's just not

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<v Speaker 1>remotely close to the world's top challenge. And the problem

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<v Speaker 1>is by putting it the top challenge, the ineffective things

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<v Speaker 1>governments have done have raised the price of energy, lowered

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<v Speaker 1>the reliability of the energy system, and they've stood in

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<v Speaker 1>the way of efforts to combat hunger, food insecurity, energy security, education,

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<v Speaker 1>and all the other global challenges. So, yeah, Bill and

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<v Speaker 1>I have had great dialogues. He's done fabulous stuff and

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<v Speaker 1>public health around the world, and I'm thrilled to see

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<v Speaker 1>him talk in a more candid way about this issue.

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<v Speaker 2>US Energy Secretary Chris Right, thank you so much for

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<v Speaker 2>your time fun up there in Toronto,