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Strategic decoupling from China;

Defense industrial base strength;

Critical supply chains (e.g., pharmaceuticals, medical devices, food); and

• Emerging technologies (e.g., rare earth minerals, semiconductors, batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computing).

Global Markets and the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service. For more than a decade, strategic planning at Global Markets (GM) and the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (CS) has been consistently undermined by increased costs associated with overseas staff and flat or reduced budgets. The Trump Administration introduced crucial, long-overdue business practices such as the implementation of software to manage and track workflow, but a further strategic overhaul of resource allocation is needed to set GM and the CS ona firm footing.

Currently, CS manages staff spread over 106 domestic offices in 77 countries around the world. Abroad, several “partner posts” utilize interagency staff and regionally located CS officials to offer services without a permanent physical in-country CS presence. Given the rapidly rising costs imposed by the State Department on CS posts overseas, a drastic expansion of this model is likely needed.

CS resources should be distributed according to the following set of priorities:

• Value in countering the malign influence of adversaries, particularly China; • Value in fostering U.S. innovation; • Value in maintaining access to critical supply chains and technology;

• Difficulty for U.S. companies in gaining market access without CS involvement; and

• Potential untapped export market size and likelihood of expansion.

Ultimately, difficult decisions must be made about the value of CS posts and whether individual posts can be justified given current resources and the above criteria. If the State Department deems the diplomatic value of a permanent in-country CS post to be vital to the national interest, then State should bear more of the cost of maintaining that post.

Global Markets should also consolidate and elevate the Advocacy Center and SelectUSA as relatively low-cost tools to drive large-scale export transactions