Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Let's keep it on trade. President Trump's tariff policy said
Speaker 2: to impact leadership at the state level. The Commonwealth of
Speaker 2: Virginia exporting nearly twenty two billion dollars worth of goods
Speaker 2: abroad last year, placing it in the top half of
Speaker 2: states and accounting for tens of thousands of jobs according
Speaker 2: to the US government data. Joining us now the Republican
Speaker 2: Governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin Company. Young Kin.
Speaker 3: Good to see you, so great to be with you.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me. It's super to be back in
Speaker 3: studio with you. So I just appreciate you making time
Speaker 3: for well.
Speaker 2: Thanks for dropping by. Let's talk about how exposed you
Speaker 2: might be to this tariff perse. You've got some very
Speaker 2: large aerospace and defense companies in the state. How are
Speaker 2: you helping those companies and individuals that might be affected
Speaker 2: by some of this.
Speaker 3: In the meantime, John, I think we have to step
Speaker 3: back first and put the current moment in the tariff
Speaker 3: evolution in context. From while he was running all the
Speaker 3: way up until today, President Trump has been really consistent
Speaker 3: on the elements of his economic plan. First, he's going
Speaker 3: to use tariffs to to reset trade balances and decades
Speaker 3: of bad deals. He's talked about. You've heard these words
Speaker 3: out of his mouth over and over again. Second of all,
Speaker 3: he's going to make sure that manufacturing is reshored and
Speaker 3: that we reinflate or reinvigorate the hollowed out middle class. Third,
Speaker 3: we're going to re establish fiscal responsibility in Washington. Fourth,
Speaker 3: we're going to re establish energy dominance, and finally, through deregulation,
Speaker 3: we're going to make it even better to do business
Speaker 3: in America. And those elements are all in motion at
Speaker 3: the same time. The trade moment for US, in the
Speaker 3: tariff moment for US, is also this ninety day pause,
Speaker 3: which is giving the opportunity for deals, and every Cabinet
Speaker 3: member has repeated there's seventy five countries in motion right now,
Speaker 3: and I would expect that there will be some significant
Speaker 3: trade deals struck. I do think that there will be
Speaker 3: a level of ongoing tariffs. And the ten percent number
Speaker 3: wasn't one picked out of a hats and they call
Speaker 3: that the base tariff. But I'm a governor watching. But
Speaker 3: I do expect that there will be deals cut, and
Speaker 3: those deals, importantly will be with some of our largest
Speaker 3: trading partners India and Japan and Korea. And so this
Speaker 3: is what's going to happen over the next many many months.
Speaker 3: And most importantly, I think that will bring some confidence
Speaker 3: to the market that this reset, which has to happen
Speaker 3: and disruption is part of a reset, will will open
Speaker 3: up long term opportunity. Now Virginia, Virginia we're going to
Speaker 3: We're seeing that long term opportunity every day, and that's
Speaker 3: through our economic development pipeline. We've had an incredibly robust
Speaker 3: three years. We've had record investment or commitments from businesses
Speaker 3: expanding in Virginia one hundred billion dollars in three years,
Speaker 3: by far the largest amount. In that time period, We've
Speaker 3: seen record job growth. Virginia went from bottom third in
Speaker 3: job growth to top three five ten every year in
Speaker 3: job growth, and that has allowed us to run surplus
Speaker 3: after surplus after surplus. The net of that is that
Speaker 3: we have open jobs in Virginia, two hundred and fifty
Speaker 3: thousand open jobs for folks to take. But on top
Speaker 3: of that, our economic development pipeline has been as full
Speaker 3: as it's ever been, and we're seeing businesses, international companies
Speaker 3: want to come to the United States. We're viewed as
Speaker 3: the top state in America for business and they want
Speaker 3: to come to Virginia. And so that's a really good
Speaker 3: foundation for us. As there is a period of disruption,
Speaker 3: but I think there's a long term opportunity and I
Speaker 3: think Virginia will really do well.
Speaker 2: We can talk about the long term opportunity in the
Speaker 2: fuller policy platform. Do you just want to keep it
Speaker 2: on trade just for a moment on trade? The methodology
Speaker 2: it does feel like was pulled from a hat in
Speaker 2: the last few weeks, and the criticism we hear around
Speaker 2: this table quite a lot. They will acknowledge the problem,
Speaker 2: and they will acknowledge that the President has articulated that
Speaker 2: consistently and well over the period of decades, not just
Speaker 2: weeks and months. It's the remedy to that problem. At
Speaker 2: the moment, what we hear from the bank CEOs, from
Speaker 2: investors is this economy is drifted into a wait and
Speaker 2: see moment that they aren't going to make those big
Speaker 2: CAMPEC decisions until they really know the rules of the game,
Speaker 2: the rules of the road. Do you think we'll know
Speaker 2: the answer to that within ninety days.
Speaker 3: We'll see a lot of clarity over the course of
Speaker 3: the next now eighty days, I guess, or eighty two days.
Speaker 2: Amazing camp.
Speaker 3: But the net of it is that President Trump was
Speaker 3: clear he's continued to be clear that in resetting bad
Speaker 3: trade deals over the last decades and re establishing reciprocal
Speaker 3: trade opportunities. By the way, with nations that are our allies.
Speaker 3: China's a whole different topic. But with nations that are
Speaker 3: our allies, we just need fair trade and we haven't
Speaker 3: had it. And so in to reset those trade in
Speaker 3: those reset those trade imbalances, you see him do what
Speaker 3: he does well, which just creates space for negotiating. And
Speaker 3: I think that's exactly what's happening when the first weekend
Speaker 3: after April second you read in every publication that seventy
Speaker 3: five countries had called within a day to start the negotiations,
Speaker 3: and you've already seen those negotiations at least reported in rumor.
Speaker 3: I think this will be this oppportunity to take a
Speaker 3: big step in resetting hold on it. And I think
Speaker 3: that's what the market needs to see.
Speaker 1: Part of the problem, I think, and you know this
Speaker 1: very well, having invested heavily as a co CEO of
Speaker 1: Carlisle and be investing in infrastructure, which takes a long time.
Speaker 1: There's a maturity mismatch between when some of this negotiation
Speaker 1: is happening, when these tariffs go on, and how long
Speaker 1: it takes to bring that investment to the United States.
Speaker 1: There is a lack of clarity about whether those policies
Speaker 1: will be continued in perpetuity, and it's leading to paralysis
Speaker 1: at so many companies. What do you tell the companies
Speaker 1: in your jurisdiction who's come to you and say, how
Speaker 1: can I plan? How can I hire? How can I invest?
Speaker 2: When this could change?
Speaker 1: I don't even understand the parameters we're talking about.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have to disagree with you on the long
Speaker 3: term planning because we're seeing a pipeline of economic investment
Speaker 3: that has been as full as it's ever been. And
Speaker 3: these are long term investments. Fortune fifty companies wanting to
Speaker 3: build in America and in Virginia hope if we can
Speaker 3: recruit them there. And these are long term investments. And
Speaker 3: you saw in Nvidia yesterday talk about five hundred billion dollars.
Speaker 3: We've seen most of the big pharmaceutical companies commit to
Speaker 3: building in the United States. We're seeing technology investments advanced
Speaker 3: manufacturing all in the United States. These are long term investments.
Speaker 3: I think the difference in a lot of people's understanding
Speaker 3: is that during market ups and downs, well, yes, IPOs
Speaker 3: get postponed, and yes, corporate deals get postponed. But these
Speaker 3: long term commitments are actually coming in very large numbers.
Speaker 3: And that's good for states like Virginia. I mean, listen,
Speaker 3: we're in the sec of economic development. I compete every
Speaker 3: day with Tennessee and North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas,
Speaker 3: and we've got to compete. And I think that much
Speaker 3: of that investment will come to this region, and that
Speaker 3: is a long term commitment. And so the uncertainty in
Speaker 3: the near term, yes, I get it, I understand it.
Speaker 3: But the long term expectation that America is going to
Speaker 3: be the best place in the world to invest is
Speaker 3: clear and real, and that's what we're seeing in our
Speaker 3: economic development pipeline.
Speaker 1: There's also an issue of staffing all of this up
Speaker 1: and how we do this. Not only is there a
Speaker 1: maturity mismatch, but also potentially a skills mismatch. And I
Speaker 1: know that your state has been significantly affected by some
Speaker 1: of the DOGE cuts and you've talked about that and
Speaker 1: how you plan to provide for some of these workers.
Speaker 1: But how do you reskill people to work for different
Speaker 1: types of jobs given that they've worked in a very
Speaker 1: specific field and there might not be jobs in that
Speaker 1: field and what we're trying to build up hasn't been
Speaker 1: there for a long time.
Speaker 3: Well, first, you go to work and prepare an education
Speaker 3: and training ecosystem to do exactly that. And we've been
Speaker 3: doing this for the last three years in Virginia, which
Speaker 3: is resetting the career pass and the education pass for
Speaker 3: lots of Virginians with opportunity. And today we have an
Speaker 3: incredibly high labor participation rate. It's bounced back from lows
Speaker 3: during the pandemic and the previous administration to near one
Speaker 3: of the national highs. We have one of the best
Speaker 3: workforce training programs in America. We were just named for
Speaker 3: the third year in a row of having the best
Speaker 3: customized job training program in America. This is what you do.
Speaker 3: You go to work. I do think that the expectation
Speaker 3: that there will be job losses, particularly out of the
Speaker 3: federal government, is real. We haven't seen them yet that
Speaker 3: much in Virginia. I mean, our first time claims and
Speaker 3: unemployment are still at historic lows. But listen, I do
Speaker 3: think that the federal government downsizing is necessary. Listen, we're running.
Speaker 3: We're at thirty seven and a half trillion dollars a debt,
Speaker 3: two trillion dollars a year of incremental debt. We can't
Speaker 3: do that, and so resizing the federal government and recognizing
Speaker 3: fiscal responsibility is critical to the future of the country
Speaker 3: is real. What does that mean in a state like Virginia.
Speaker 3: We have a lot of federal workers a lot now.
Speaker 3: A disproportionate amount of those are in the defense and
Speaker 3: in the intelligence and national security area, and we're seeing
Speaker 3: more money go into those areas. But I still expect
Speaker 3: that there will be real disruption for some folks in Virginia.
Speaker 3: My dad lost his job twice when I was growing up,
Speaker 3: seen this in families my own, and it is really hard.
Speaker 3: And that's why a pathway to a new career is
Speaker 3: so important. Because of our economic growth, we have two
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty thousand open but unfilled jobs in Virginia,
Speaker 3: and over one hundred thousand of those require a bachelor's degree.
Speaker 3: These are good jobs, but there are also jobs that
Speaker 3: pay well, and so opening up that pathway to folks
Speaker 3: who find themselves with job loss is really really important,
Speaker 3: and so we launched something called Virginia has Jobs and
Speaker 3: it's for folks to get jobs in Virginia from all
Speaker 3: over the country, but at a time when we're seeing
Speaker 3: this dislocation from the federal government. It's a real opportunity
Speaker 3: pathway two hundred and fifty thousand jobs, pathways for training, coaching,
Speaker 3: resume writing, but also for making sure folks on how
Speaker 3: to file for unemployment and keep their health care. This
Speaker 3: is a pathway that I'm really hoping that people who
Speaker 3: do have job disruption can find a way to a
Speaker 3: great career in Virginia because Virginia has lots and lots
Speaker 3: of jobs, and people can go to Virginia has Jobs
Speaker 3: dot com and actually find one. And that's part of
Speaker 3: I think this movement of really public sector employment to
Speaker 3: private sector employment, and we've seen it in Virginia. We've
Speaker 3: had great job growth over the last three years. It's
Speaker 3: led to record surplus after surplus after surplus, which has
Speaker 3: allowed us to reduce taxes. It's allowed us to invest
Speaker 3: in education and law enforcement, and by the way, in
Speaker 3: economic development and job training. But it's also I think
Speaker 3: changed people's view of long term In Virginia. We used
Speaker 3: to have for ten years we had more people move
Speaker 3: away from the Commonwealth of Virginia than move into from
Speaker 3: the other forty United States. And last year we became
Speaker 3: one of the top importers of talent in America. So
Speaker 3: this works, and at a time when President Trump again
Speaker 3: is trying to run a very very full policy agenda
Speaker 3: resetting trade, balancing the federal budget, of making America dominant
Speaker 3: again and energy, restoring manufacturing, and restoring this middle class
Speaker 3: what has been what's been eviscerated over the last twenty years,
Speaker 3: and doing all of that while deregulating to make America
Speaker 3: even a better place for a business. I think we
Speaker 3: can look at Virginia and say, hey, we've seen at
Speaker 3: least a little microcosm of that, and it works.
Speaker 2: Governor, the stakes are high, and please you mentioned your
Speaker 2: experience growing gup. You like me, we were professional dishwashers.
Speaker 2: You went on to have a fantastic career leading Carlisle,
Speaker 2: and now you're dedicating yourself to public service. There are
Speaker 2: now people much younger than us who believe that dream
Speaker 2: is not available to them. The upward mobility is no
Speaker 2: longer something available in the United States, and at the moment,
Speaker 2: as you know, filling stadiums around this country, as left
Speaker 2: wing people like Congresswoman Ocasio Cortez Senator Bernie Sanders. If
Speaker 2: this administration gets this wrong, we could see a swing
Speaker 2: in the pendulum all the way to the far left.
Speaker 2: It's not unthinkable. You can see that taking place. How
Speaker 2: high are the stakes. What happens if this administration screws
Speaker 2: it up, well.
Speaker 3: First and foremost don't believe they will. And therefore I
Speaker 3: think what people will see over the course of this
Speaker 3: administry is the realization of this long term opportunity. And
Speaker 3: that's why all of the elements that in play are critical.
Speaker 3: You know, there are so many people in government who
Speaker 3: believe there's one policy solution, this magic wand that will
Speaker 3: fix everything. This is an incredibly complex economic transition model,
Speaker 3: and that's why having all of the elements in play
Speaker 3: at one time, while complicating, is critical because they're each
Speaker 3: going to contribute for the long term success. And if
Speaker 3: you peel out one energy dominance, listen, getting energy prices
Speaker 3: to a place where they're sustainably affordable at the gas
Speaker 3: pump and in the supply chains. Critical America should basically
Speaker 3: dominate the world of power and energy. Making sure we
Speaker 3: have a balanced fiscal moment, not running two trillion dollar
Speaker 3: deficits critical for the long term success of America. Reshoring, manufacturing,
Speaker 3: and think about what's happened over the last decades where
Speaker 3: we watched critical, very high paying jobs move around the
Speaker 3: world away from America and hollow out our middle class.
Speaker 3: That's the opportunity that has really been missing because we've
Speaker 3: seen literally the middle class not participate in the economic
Speaker 3: growth of America over the past few decades. This is
Speaker 3: what is this opportunity is all about. And I've said
Speaker 3: many times, I think the number one job we have
Speaker 3: as Americans is to help this administration be successful and
Speaker 3: that success will translate into an even better America than
Speaker 3: we have today.
Speaker 2: We said it around this Tyito. We hope they are
Speaker 2: just the final question, what's the future of company? Young kid?
Speaker 2: What you want to do next?
Speaker 3: Well, I finish up next January, and I just want
Speaker 3: to begin by saying this has been the most purposeful
Speaker 3: moment in my entire professional career, and I've loved it,
Speaker 3: and I want to make sure this last year is
Speaker 3: incredibly productive for Virginia. Listen, you only get four years
Speaker 3: in a governor's job in Virginia, and I've got one
Speaker 3: year left, and I got to get four years of
Speaker 3: work done in this year because we've had a great
Speaker 3: first three years, and I want to get a second
Speaker 3: term jammed into this last year. But I also wreckonognize
Speaker 3: that there are a lot of folks who spend all
Speaker 3: their time planning for their next job. I'm not one
Speaker 3: of those folks. I'm going to spend one hundred percent,
Speaker 3: if not one hundred and fifty percent, of my effort
Speaker 3: making sure that Virginia continues to thrive. We've got a
Speaker 3: really important election this year. Our lieutenant governor wins some
Speaker 3: Earl Sears has been a great partner for me through
Speaker 3: this entire economic revival in Virginia, and I want to
Speaker 3: make sure that she gets the baton. I think voters
Speaker 3: will trust us and trust her and want to elect
Speaker 3: her the next governor of Virginia. And then we'll decide
Speaker 3: what I do. After I've watched her be inaugurated.
Speaker 2: Young convents twenty eight, I'll watch.
Speaker 3: I'll decide when I after I'm done in January twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: That's its trank, Goven. It's good to see it.
Speaker 3: I will, I will, I will repeat, though, the most
Speaker 3: important thing that we need to be doing right now
Speaker 3: is to be helping this administration be successful, and I
Speaker 3: think the elements are in place. It is a complicated
Speaker 3: set of movements in order to reset so many things
Speaker 3: at one time, but I have great faith that the
Speaker 3: long term opportunities really are going to be great, and
Speaker 3: we're seeing that in companies who are investing all across
Speaker 3: Virginia and America.
Speaker 2: For the good of this country. I think a lot
Speaker 2: of people agree with you. They hope, we hope you're right.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Governor. I appreciate your time. Thank you, sir,
Speaker 2: the Virginia Governor Glenn Younkin there, thank you very much.