00:00You were mayor of San Antonio from 1981 to 1989. My understanding is that this is groundwork that
00:07began to be laid in the mid-1980s. So walk us through, you know, that period of time and how
00:13that brings us to this decision from Toyota today. I started trips to Japan in about 1985
00:22and had the good fortune to team up with people within Japan who were close to Toyota. So in
00:29the annual trips that I made thereafter, we always called on Toyota. We were very fortunate
00:36to develop a relationship with a lady who was a business consultant, but also a member of the
00:41Mitsui family. And her first cousin was married to Dr. Toyota, the CEO of Toyota. So it was a business
00:52relationship, but it got to be a very personal relationship. We became dear friends. And about
00:5816 years later in 2001 or two, Toyota began to talk about an actual plant somewhere in the United
01:06States, an additional plant to what they already had in Kentucky and Indiana and other places.
01:12And legend has it that they were considering Texas. And one day the leadership of Toyota,
01:19the executives, went to a Dallas Cowboys football game and walking through the stadium parking,
01:27they could not believe the number of pickup trucks in the parking lot. And they said they must sell
01:34an awful lot of pickup trucks in Texas. And as a result, decided to select San Antonio, which we're very,
01:40very happy about. It went into one of the poorest areas of the city, a school district that badly
01:45needed the revenues, the job training programs we put into full motion. And bottom line is created a
01:54plant that produces now about 240,000 tundras and sequoias. And this new investment of 3.6 billion
02:04will add the Tacoma line. So this is, this is when you're in my position, early involved in Toyota,
02:11I would have never dreamed it would be this significant, this important, and have the
02:17potential to expand in this way. And so the president, obviously thrilled about this as
02:22well. President Donald Trump posting on social media that this is a really big deal, also saying
02:27it showed tariffs at work. And listening to what you're saying, it sounds like that's not the
02:33complete story when you think about, you know, how long term this relationship has been.
02:37Well, it's not the complete story, because it did start a long time ago, and Toyota saw the value
02:42of being in the United States. There may be some element to the president's point that more and
02:49more companies want to build within the United States. And so they had a choice of being United
02:55States adjacent in Mexico, or actually building in the United States. That may have been a factor.
03:01I did hear the president this morning in a press conference from Turkey, talk about this
03:06Toyota decision in our city. So that was, it put us in a global conversation for the day.
03:12I am curious, though, Mr. Cisneros, about this idea, though, if we move away from a more formal
03:19NAFTA, USMCA type of agreement to these sort of periodic reviews that the Trump administration is
03:25looking for, does that create the potential of more companies effectively, I guess, just picking
03:31aside of the border? And obviously, with the U.S.'s economic size, does that then become the default
03:38for where they go?
03:39Well, let me just say, I'm very hopeful that we don't reopen the USMC at this point.
03:45Well, it's reopened already.
03:47Well, reopened in the sense of actually taking some action to negotiate key sections, because
03:51it's been functioning. And it's created, at least in our region, massive rewards. Laredo, Texas is the
04:01busiest crossing point in the world for cargo and goods between any two land ports, between any nation
04:10in the world. And all of that volume comes up by age 35 into Texas. There is a automotive cluster
04:18now
04:18that exists between San Antonio and Monterey in Mexico and other cities, Saltillo, Querétaro,
04:27and others in Mexico. And it's employing literally hundreds of thousands of people in that cluster.
04:34And I think that's the best way to create a peaceful discussion between Mexico and the United States.
04:41The whole focus has been on immigration. It's been on drugs. But it really ought to be on creating jobs
04:47and improving the quality of life in the region. And that's actually working. It's actually happening.
04:53I am curious. I do just want to get your thoughts about the original NAFTA agreement. And I know you
04:57were a HUD secretary. But I mean, you were in the Clinton administration at the time when NAFTA took
05:03effect and basically was being implemented here. What did we get right about NAFTA with the benefit
05:10of hindsight? And what did we get wrong about that original agreement? I think what we got right was
05:16creating some open trade relationships that have, on the whole, created new manufacturing centers and
05:24new investments. What might have been wrong was insufficient attention to the workforce issues.
05:32There were programs that needed to be put in place for displaced workers wherever displacement did
05:38occur. There was a need to really bulk up on the new economy jobs and prepare people for computer
05:46training and other jobs that now we can see are growing in places like Columbus, Ohio and Akron and Chicago
05:55and other parts of the Midwest. So we that that probably was delayed longer than it should have been.
06:04But on the whole, US Mexico trade is vitally important to our country, US Canada trade is vitally
06:13important to our country. And the less disruption of the playing field in terms of trade war or interest rate
06:23issues or other bureaucratic obstacles, I think the better for our own country. We're seeing again,
06:31I'm talking now about my part of the country, an automotive cluster in San Antonio that is not only
06:37this massive Toyota cluster, but includes JCB, a British tractor manufacturer, Navistar, the old
06:48international harvester with the truck plant. And so now we're back in business in this part of the
06:55country. With with advanced manufacturing.
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