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WASHINGTON - Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) President and Chairman Kimberly A. Reed yesterday joined radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt on The Hugh Hewitt Show, which reaches more than an estimated two million listeners weekly.

Professor Hewitt interviewed Chairman Reed on the crucial importance of EXIM. See below for highlights. To listen to Chairman Reed's interview, click HERE, and to read the transcript, click HERE.

At the outset of the interview, the two discussed Chairman Reed's recent op-ed with U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (ND) published in The Hill titled, "One Year After Reauthorization, EXIM is Helping American Workers and Keeping China at Bay."

Chairman Reed outlined how EXIM supports U.S. jobs and the export of "Made in the USA" goods and services around the world. She noted the first anniversary of EXIM's historic and longest-ever Congressional reauthorization, which President Trump signed into law on December 20, 2019. The legislation included a Congressional mandate for EXIM to advance America's comparative leadership with respect to the People's Republic of China (PRC) and establish the Program on China and Transformational Exports (Program) to help neutralize the PRC and its Belt and Road Initiative. The legislation calls for EXIM also to focus on ten transformational sectors including 5G, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biomedical sciences, and biotechnology.

Professor Hewitt asked, "There is no argument that makes a lick of sense against EXIM except theoretical absolutists. Have you changed any minds as people come to understand what the [Chinese Community Party] is doing around the world? Will people open their eyes?" Chairman Reed responded, "[W]hat's going to happen is we're going to lose if we don't support important industries like the 5G sector…[W]e took a bold, new action on Thursday of last week to change our rules to allow us to support components of 5G, because we've got to work with trusted allies and partners."

Chairman Reed highlighted a conversation a with former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich regarding EXIM's role in countering the PRC. "He looked me straight in the eye and he said: 'You say to them: Are you for us, or are you for China?'" Speaker Gingrich published two op-eds on EXIM, "We Need the Export-Import Bank to Help Take on China" and "The Export-Import Bank is Crucial to America's Ability to Compete with China," and, in October, he made remarks to the newly established EXIM Advisory Committee Subcommittee on Strategic Competition with the People's Republic of China, which is informally known as the Chairman's Council on China Competition.

Chairman Reed also recognized the important work of National Security Advisor Ambassador Robert C. O'Brien and the U.S. House of Representatives China Task Force. In September, House China Task Force Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (TX-10) and Members Rep. Andy Barr (KY-6) and Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (OH-16) participated in the EXIM 2020 Annual Conference panel moderated by EXIM Counselor to the Chairman and Senior Vice President for the Program on China and Transformational Exports David Trulio. Click HERE to watch Ambassador O'Brien, the House China Task Force, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow speak at the conference, which had an all-time record high of 1,700 participants.

At the end of the interview, Chairman Reed, who is the first woman to lead EXIM in its 86-year history, reflected on her tenure: "[T]hose conservatives who understand the China issue have come over. And I'm so grateful for that, and I'll do even more work in my remaining days in this wonderful job to help transform the agency. And, as President Trump asked me in the Oval Office during my swearing in with Vice President Pence, 'take this agency to new heights.' So, I want to do that in goodness for U.S. workers."

ABOUT EXIM:

EXIM is an independent federal agency that promotes and supports American jobs by providing competitive and necessary export credit to support sales of U.S. goods and services to international buyers. A robust EXIM can level the global playing field for U.S. exporters when they compete against foreign companies that receive support from their governments. EXIM also contributes to U.S. economic growth by helping to create and sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs in exporting businesses and their supply chains across the United States. In recent years, approximately 90 percent of the total number of the agency's authorizations has directly supported small businesses. Since 1992, EXIM has generated more than $9 billion for the U.S. Treasury for repayment of U.S. debt.

For more information about EXIM, please visit www.exim.gov.