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Gun Younkin is here. I nearly got that out in one go.
Good morning, good morning, Thanks for having me.
We sit here at the Airshe and I talked to you about this over the last few years. This is a really integrated industry. Okay, A lot of the companies that are here are headquartered in your state, A lot of Virginians are here, but it's a really integrate This is a global industry. It's not a Virginia industry. It's on American industry. It's a global industry, the aerospace industry, and a lot of people here are scratching their heads wondering, therefore,
what happens next in terms of trade. Can I continue to manufacture the aircraft will manufacture with US parts in them and European parts in them. Do you think there should be some exception made for this incredibly complex, different industry that we see behind us here.
Well, there's historically been arrangements around the world time, Yeah, big agreements. I think one of the challenges that are working through is how much of the content is in what countries and who's buying and so I think that the next step here is first to understand the mapping of all those supply chains, and then second of all, to see whether there can be an agreement this reached
at the end of the day. I've been very supportive of the President's position that we need fair trade, and historically, across all the industries, the United States has really been a disadvantage around the world with trade really being imbalanced, and so he's rebalancing these trade agreements. The result of that we're seeing in the Commonwealth of Virginia where so many companies now are coming to establish US manufacturing and
the good thing is they're choosing Virginia. To put it down, We've had one hundred billion dollars of commitments from companies to build and expand in Virginia and we expect to continue to see that. So this long term agreement that has existed in aerospace for a long time, I think will be something that will be addressed. But at the heart of it is rebalancing some of these trades.
But this is this is a reasonably nuanced story. It's this is an industry that is quite balanced. Boeing, headquartered in your state, exports a lot of aeroplanes around the world. You wouldn't want to see that put it at a disadvance Is that company put it at a disadvantage? Kelly put it a disadvancege when he tries to sell airplanes around the.
World, would you, well, again, it's a meter of a matter of balancing around the world. And if we have open trade agreements with our partners, much of this is done on a bilateral basis with the current administration, then it'll settle out. And if we have certain partners that aren't willing to do that, then it'll be more difficult.
You think it's you think it's real. It appears at the moment that if you buy lots of Boeing headquartered in Virginia, do you get a good trade deal? Yes? Is that a reasonable kind of thing to talk about?
Yeah, if you're if as as an American, Yes, I mean, I think one of the real opportunities is for America to recognize and this is exactly what President Trump is doing, is that access to the US market is really important to companies around the world and were therefore we want fair trade with all of our counterparties, and to date it has not been very fair, and so they're rebouncing that and I think this is exactly what all the industries are seeing today when we hear the same thing
in the automotive industry and others that it is complicated in supply chains. Well, over time, as things settle down and we can see President Trump reaching deals like he's reached with the UK, that we will see fair trade, and when that fair trade is set, then we'll see industries like the aerospace industry settle into it.
Let's say a little bit more about buy headquartert in Virginia makes a lot of aeroplanes in Seattle, though, and I'm wondering whether or not increasingly there is an argument that says bowe should be headquartered in Seattle, in Washington, not in Virginia. Can you kind of see the logic of that.
Well, I also see the logic of their very very large company customer being the Pentagon, which happens to be in Virginia and where they had a huge win just recently as the prime on the new F forty seven,
which is the next generation fighter for the military. And so I think what Boeing has recognized is that one they have the best workforce in the world in Virginia, and so they tap into that for all of their corporate functions, they have great access to their customer and I know that the flights from Dulles to Seattle are busy as their senior executives move back and forth between Washington and Washington.
Yes, just confusing for the rest of us. Yeah, but isn't there an argument that says you need to be close to the shop floor. Then yes, the customers at the Pentagon, but being the lesson we've learned is be close to the shop floor.
Yeah. So I spoke to Kelly when he came on as the new CEO, and we've had this very candid discussion and he says, very comfortable with the headquarters being in Virginia, but he personally was going to spend an enormous amount of time with the commercial airspace business as he set that right, And that's exactly what he's done. And yet their defense business has been growing. Not to mention the fact again that this F forty seven win is a big win for them.
Okay, you may have defense, so let's just kind of talk about defense for just a second. Again, it comes back to the same argument, should Europe buying more US defense in order to balance the books.
I think the US defense industry would very much like for them too.
But is that a way to get to get over the trade agreement disagreement that we have at the moment.
I think it's one of the tools and the toolkit once again to balance the trade and when you have large trade and balances where we are in fact buying a lot more from in the United States from countries than they are buying from US. It's one of the tools in the toolkit. And I do think that the defense military complex has the most advanced military capabilities in the world, and so I think that what we're seeing is the collaborations between US companies and particularly European countries.
I've had a lot of meetings in the last two days. Has never been better right now, And in fact, what I think has happened is the European and international companies are really moving into the United States with break next speed because what they're hearing from the Pentagon is we want to do more and we want to do it faster, and so we need more robust supply chains that can deliver what we need faster, and a lot of the international companies are starting to come into the United States
either through a proxy arrangement or with partners, in order to try to meet that demand before.
I throw it back totany your term limited a cabinet job. Maybe next year.
I'm going to finish strong in Virginia and then we'll see what happens. I think one of the great things that I have realized is I don't need to worry about this every day. I'm focused on the commonwealth, and Virginia is really roaring. We've just touched through one hundred million dollars of capital commandments from companies. We have more people working than ever. We're running our fourth straight year of another big surplus, which has allow us to reduce
tax burdens and make big investments. The state's doing extraordinarily well. And I've just loved the job I've had, and i can't wait to finish strong, and so I've got to do that over the next year.
Pilet's budgets, they're amazing things. Clean bit, Governor, thank you very much indeed for joining us. Thank you, Governor Glenn Young, King of Virginia,