Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on competition with China: They cannot have our AI chips

National Childcare Innovation Summit being held in Washington today with executives from companies like UPS, Micron and IBM meeting with the Commerce Secretary on ways to make childcare more affordable and accessible. Our Megan Casella is there and joins us this morning with an exclusive with the Commerce Secretary. Hey, Megan. Hey, Carl, And thank you. And Secretary Raimondo, thank you so much for being here. So you've described childcare as a business issue and not a social one. What is your goal with this summit and what do you see as the private sector's role here? Yeah, thank you. So the goal of the summit is to bring everybody together, government, business, childcare providers to figure out how we're going to solve this problem. You know, we heard today from governors, bipartisan, Democratic and Republican, from a number of CEOs of leading companies, and they're all saying they can't find the workers they need. Everyone is saying we need to get more people in the workforce and key to unlock those workers, especially women, is finding childcare solutions. So for me, the big take away from this morning listening to the CEOs and governors is this is not a woman's issue. This is not a social issue. This is about jobs, competitiveness and making sure that companies have the workers they need and, frankly, that women and people can work at the top of their game every day, which means having childcare. President Biden tried to work some childcare policies into his American Rescue Plan at the start of the term. Most of them got left on the cutting room floor, even with Democrats controlling both chambers. So do you see a path forward at the federal level? And how much of A priority will that be for a second term? The president's a believer. You know, president was a single dad for a long time. He knows what this is like, and he is a strong believer. He knows it's good for the economy. I did a lot of that work, you know, as commerce secretary. I myself spoke to dozens of members of Congress, Democrat and Republican. And you know what they told me? They said, secretary, I just can't get with you on the social issues. And by that they meant childcare, the care economy, which was unbelievable to me. And they told me we have more work to do. So today we have literally we're overwhelmed. We had room for a few 100 people. We have almost 500 people. We have some of the CEOs of the biggest companies in America. They are saying we need this. This is a business issue, it's an economics issue. You heard senior executive of Micron, a semiconductor company. He said we can't out compete the world unless we have a diverse workforce and that means childcare. So yes, there's a path forward if members of Congress understand what business people already know, which is that this isn't a social issue, this is a business issue, an economic issue, a productivity issue. Do you see the private sector as more impactful as the suppliers of childcare or as lobbying the government to say we need this? Both. Honestly, I think it's both. It was clear to me from trying to get votes for the president's package that we have a lot of education to do and they need to hear from businesses. You know, we're hosting this at the chamber for a reason. But also solutions, practical, innovative, entrepreneurial solutions, private sector companies to provide child care. Speaking of a second term, you lead a lot of the administration's outreach with CE OS. What's your pitch to them when you're talking about whether to support President Biden for a second term? My pitch is the economy is doing very well. I mean, if you had told me three years ago that we would have a feather bed landing, forget about a soft landing, a feather bed landing, I might not have believed you. But under the president's leadership, it's what we have. Inflation is going down, wages are up. You heard John Fish that you have a big construction company say unemployment in the trades is 0%. So it's a strong economy. And I think, you know, I think our policies have a lot to do with that. What are you hearing back from them in terms of their level of support? What I hear from business people is kind of what you heard today on the panel, which is they their, their stocks are up, their businesses are growing, they're building. The thing I do hear though is workforce, you know, I do hear it. It's the number one or two concern that I hear from every business. We need more workers, and so that's why we're leaning into issues like childcare so we can tap into the full workforce. Shifting gears just a little bit, there's been some reporting recently that the US is looking at further export restrictions to limit the amount of China's access to our chips and sophisticated technologies. Can you give us any information on sort of what's under consideration and what to expect? Yeah, I don't have anything specific to announce or specific that, you know, we might be working on. It's more of a continue. It's a dynamic process, right? When we learn information about what China might be doing, other countries diverting chips to China, then we take action. What here's what I will say, You know, we want China's economy to flourish. We want them to have we sell billions of dollars of semiconductor chips to China. That will continue. They cannot have our most sophisticated leading edge AI chips or the equipment that makes those chips. And so as we're learning more about AI and China's capacity, we're constantly updating, you know, constantly updating our regulations to make sure that we keep America safe.