All politics may be local, but economics and politics are increasingly shaped by global events that require Chattanooga and other communities to effectively compete and promote themselves in the international arena, federal and city leaders said Wednesday.
Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, one of nearly two dozen city and state leaders serving on the Department of State's inaugural Assembly of Local Leaders, proclaimed Wednesday as "Global Engagement Day" and stressed the importance of foreign trade, investment and relations during a luncheon session with local leaders and a top State Department official.
Kelly pointed to Volkswagen, Komatsu, Wacker Polysilicon, Nippon Paint, Sanofi, Gestamp and other foreign investments in Chattanooga as evidence that international engagement has paid billions of dollars of dividends for the Chattanooga region. In the past five years, seven of the top 10 new business investments in the Chattanooga area have come from businesses headquartered outside of the United States, and more than 10,000 Chattanooga workers are now employed by foreign-based companies.
"Tennessee is a huge state, and Chattanooga is a big city for direct foreign investment," Kelly said in an interview after the luncheon Wednesday. "Relationships matter, and ultimately that is all that diplomacy really is. I think Chattanooga has always been a very welcoming city, and we recognize the value of international trade and investments."
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly speaks March 25 during a news conference at Chattanooga City Hall.Kelly said one of the reason he and others helped start the Chattanooga Football Club in 2009 as a private businessman was his sense of the global appeal that soccer brought to Chattanooga and how the sport builds relationships across different cultures. As mayor, Kelly continues to support Chattanooga's sister city relationships with seven different cities around the globe.
Tennessee as a whole is home to more than 1,000 foreign-based businesses that have collectively invested more than $47 billion in capital and employ more than 161,900 Tennesseans, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates. The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development operates sales offices in eight European and two Asian cities to promote Tennessee to foreign companies seeking to grow production and sales.
"By investing in a broader international footprint, we've ensured that Tennessee is firmly entrenched in the new global economy," Stuart McWhorter, commissioner for the department, said on the state's international website.
(READ MORE: Wacker sees growth in auto industry product for Chattanooga-area plant)
To support state and local efforts to recruit businesses, tourists, workers and supplies, the U.S. Department of State established its first special representative position for city and state diplomacy in October 2022 and named Nina Hachigian to the post. Hachigian visited leaders in Louisville, Kentucky, and Chattanooga this week to help assess local needs and opportunities for State Department assistance for local communities.
"Local governments, whether they think about it or not, are already involved in international affairs because they are dealing with the effects of international events in their communities, be that extreme weather or fentanyl or a cyberattack that takes their school down," Hachigian said during an interview prior to a luncheon with local leaders Wednesday at the Westin hotel in Chattanooga. "There are also a lot of advantages of serving your constituents through international action. You can bring in jobs; you can find solutions to common problems; you can bring back cultural opportunities; or get to know your diaspora population better."
Hachigian said employees of foreign-based employers, on average, are paid higher wages and benefits than their counterparts working for U.S.-based companies.
"And once a company locates a facility in a particular community, other companies from that same country often follow and invest even more and create more jobs," she said.
Hachigian said whether you travel abroad or not, "delegations to your town can be a great thing for your constituents."
"In a lot of countries, it is very common for local leaders to be global actors, but in the United States, there is less of a tradition of that, but we would like to encourage that," she said.
Kelly said he wants to continue to promote the global economy and foreign investments in Chattanooga.
"I think isolation is a mistake, and this idea of pulling in our horns and saying that international relations don't matter is a huge mistake, both in terms of foreign and economic policy," Kelly said.
Hachigian said her visit to Chattanooga was her first as ambassador, and she was eager to hear about ways the U.S. Department of State can better serve local communities with their international issues. In Louisville this week, Hashigian said a university president complained that a recent doctoral graduate wanted to stay in Louisville and start a business but was unable to obtain a U.S. work visa under current restrictions, so he started the business in Canada, where he recently moved to build this company.
Hashigian said her office works to help local and state governments with a range of international issues, but the State Department does not set immigration rules or the terms of multinational treaties and agreements.
"We want to be a support system for local mayors and state officials for anything international that they might need encouraging them to get out there," she said. "But to be clear, we never tell anyone what to do, and we give them total autonomy to do what they want and think is best."
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.