U.S. state governors discuss current challenges and opportunities facing their regions, sharing insights on governance, collaboration, and strategies to drive economic and social progress at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026.
At Davos, Governors Gretchen Whitmer (Michigan), Andy Beshear (Kentucky), and Kevin Stitt (Oklahoma) argued that states are where governance becomes execution: “We don’t sit on the floor of Congress and debate theory… we actually have to go out there and bring in the new company.” Despite partisan differences, all emphasized stability for investment and the operational burden created by federal policy swings. Whitmer described tariff volatility as “chaos… daily,” especially for autos where parts cross borders “nine times,” forcing firms to pause long-horizon manufacturing decisions. Stitt, a “limited government” Republican, pitched Oklahoma’s low-cost “all of the above” energy mix—“50%… renewables”—as the decisive edge for data centers and heavy industry, citing a $6B aluminum smelter win. Beshear framed cross-party electoral success as results-driven: jobs that “create 350 new jobs, paying $40 an hour” can overcome polarization. Tensions surfaced on federalism: governors opposed punitive withholding of congressionally appropriated funds, warning Congress and courts are failing as checks and balances. On tech regulation, they backed state “laboratories” but acknowledged the need for baseline national rules. Internationally, Beshear called the Greenland push “dumb as hell,” while Stitt defended “America First” but conceded it was “a little weird.”
Those of you in the room with me. I'm Richard Quest of CNN. Good Lord, do I really look like that today? You know, it's early. It's early in Davos, and after a few days here, one starts to fall apart just by you. They asked me to moderate this panel of us governors, and I thought, I'm in trouble already here because I know what everybody wants to hear. I know everybody wants you three US governors, different parties, and you want to get everybody on what's happening. But the reality is, what we're going to talk about this morning is the role of the governors, the role of the states, and the way in which you interact in an international sphere and to attract international capital. But at the same time, we can't be we can't be ignorant of what's happening in the world, the role of the United States. And by the way, I believe the president is somewhere over the North Atlantic, slightly about three hours late because of what happened. I'm also in a bit of difficulty today. I've made an entire career, entire career from never having to say anyone's name. So you don't get it wrong. So it's usually. Yes, Minister. Well, Prime Minister indeed, Reverend. Unfortunately, I've got three governors. So I can't say governor, governor, governor. So I may defer and be highly inappropriate, unusual first names, if that's not going to be a dramatic breach of protocol for any of you.
Not at all for me, Richard.
Thank, Derek. Gretchen. Good. Starting with yourself. Democratic governor from Michigan. I'm not going to define any of your politics and positions. I'm going to let you do that after I've introduced, of you, Republican governor of Oklahoma is Kevin Stitt. Also, the National Governors Association. Kevin, I'm going to ask you to define where you are, in your view, on the political spectrum. And Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, a magnificent state, which I visited. In fact, I visited all your states, several.
But I appreciate you calling mine magnificent.
And with that, we headed down the mountainside. Governor, how would you describe your politics?
Well, first off, thanks for having me. It's the first time in Davos.
A Davos virgin.
But, you know, I think first off, my Democratic colleagues, I think governors have a unique perspective. And what I mean by that is we really are focused on our states. And and I think I tell people all the time, let Washington, D.C., play politics. As governors. We really want to try to make our states the very, very best states for the for business. I want to be the most business friendly state. We compete with one another. We want the best state for infrastructure, for education, for health care. And so I think we have a different perspective. And I think Americans love and people around the world to see people from other parties that actually like each other. And so I love doing these events so we can show that we agree much more than we disagree. And so I'm excited about the conversation.
Right. But where are you politically within the Republican Party?
You know, I would say I'm a limited government. I like, Henry David Thoreau's quote that he who governs best governs least. I believe in free markets, and I believe in entrepreneurs and innovation and free markets, where if you work hard and you create value, you should be rewarded for that. And so that's kind of what we think in Oklahoma. Get government out of the way. Let let the free markets work. And government is to my in my opinion is not the answer. Limited government is the answer. So that's kind of what I how I define my politics. But I'm a business guy and never ran for politics. I ran in one governor, back in 2019.
Gretchen, how would you define. Because you're I mean, you you have a certain, fame because basically the president has beaten you up on several occasions and you've beaten him back.
Well, I describe myself as a GSD Democrat. I get done Democrat. And, you know, I have had the honor of serving the people of Michigan. I am in my eighth year, got elected twice by double digits in a state that is very difficult to win. And I think it's because people in my state know I'm going to show up no matter what. I will get threats on my life. It means trying to protect the people of Michigan.
Had several very, very serious threats.
I will go to the Oval Office with the current president and have my picture taken there, because I'm advocating for a base in the state of Michigan. I got it done. So I will show up for the people of Michigan. The people are good, hard working people, and they expect their government to be as good and work at least as hard as they are.
How would you describe your relationship with the president?
Complicated. I mean, I, I disagree with him on 95% of the things that he does. But my job as governor of Michigan, the oath that I took is I'm always going to fight to do whatever I can to make the Michigan economy stronger, to create opportunity for Michiganders and and to protect the people of Michigan. So when I disagree with him on tariffs, he hears it loud and clear. It hasn't changed his mind yet. But I'm going to keep trying. And when I get a base capitalized for the state of Michigan, it's a good thing not just for Michigan but for the U.S.. So I'm going to keep showing up that way.
Andy, you are talk if I, if I ask ChatGPT about you.
Oh. Tell me what it says.
Oh, God. I mean, it says you're the future hope. Oh, I mean, it says, you know, you are a leading.
I'm signing up for ChatGPT.
You could be the next leader. Tell me about your politics.
Well, my politics are pragmatic. My job is to make life a little bit better or a little bit easier for the people of Kentucky. I am a governor that won reelection by five points, a Democrat in a state that Donald Trump won by 30 points. The next year.
The purple state.
If you want to call it purple with a 30 point win by Donald Trump.
Then how does a Democrat I mean, one thing I have, just to put into context, I have lived in the US for most of my adult life, so I am well familiar with the system. And I know that American voters love checks and balances and will put one party in one place, one party in another.
The answer is by getting results, it's going into a county that hasn't seen enough new jobs, landing a new paper mill that creates 350 new jobs, paying $40 an hour. What do you what do you see in that next election? You see people willing to cross party lines. You see people willing to vote for somebody that just makes life a little bit better. Most people, they don't want to be political every day, but they do want to be able to raise their family, to go on that family vacation. They want to have a better life. And if you're fighting for it showing up and you prove that you can get results, they'll vote for you.
But the interesting thing about the the gubernatorial system is this this inherent tension that is built into the system between the federal and the state, always between what is I mean, the Constitution, you know, that which is not given to the feds remains with the States. Sounds simple. Until you try to do it.
It does. Well, I mean, one example of that is, is the National Guard issue, and.
You fought on that.
I fought on that because I'm going to call a spade a spade. So basically the president has the right to call the National Guard up. Right? The governors are over our National Guard until they're federalized. So my point was, don't send Texas Guard into Illinois over the protests of the Illinois governor. Right. Let's use Illinois troops for Illinois issues, Arkansas troops for Arkansas issues, because we don't want to pit one state against another, because if the shoe's on the other foot and and the Biden administration, you would have sent California troops into Oklahoma or Texas or a or a Republican state. We would have had a problem with that. So basically I just said, hey, let's we know there's issues. There's but let's make sure we we are we're calling a spade a spade is basically what I said.
Well, and I theoretically agree with that because no state should have someone else's National Guard come into their cities without the approval of their governor. But how about we use no troops in our cities? How about we have real solutions to crime that involve law enforcement, that involve long term fixes, that involve reducing recidivism, that involve programs that keep you from falling in to to crime. But but it's so un-American right now. This militarization of our streets, of people in body armor, carrying assault rifles, that is just not who we are.
You see, that's the issue, really, that they shouldn't. I mean, never mind who's who's National Guard you use the question is whether the National Guard was necessary in the first place.
Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously we're seeing some crime issues, in some of these cities. And so I think the president has a tough job of trying to enforce federal law, some of the immigration laws. And, it is it's a complicated question. Would I send would I send troops there? I would, I would, I would have, I would have a problem with that. But, it is I'm not privy to all the information that they are. We can't have our cities, being lawless either.
No, but I guess the issue is whether the situation is so bad that the law enforcement that's already there is not able to deal with that which is going on.
To your point, it is not necessary. It was not necessary. And the National Guard is not being they're not being used for the correct purpose for which they're trained. We are the commanders in chief of our National Guards. They do an incredible job, yet they are not law enforcement. So for this administration, I think, to declare, you know, a crisis, they've made the crisis that is playing out and they've made it more dangerous for the citizens of Minnesota. And I think that's something that we're all thinking about as commanders in chief. Our job is to make sure that that these troops are ready for crises that we have that are legitimate, for which they are appropriately trained.
I want to bring it, which I take your point, but I want to take it into, in a sense, into the sovereignty question rather than the political question of of that. And that raises this question of who's really in charge. You've got this states rights, you've got this state sovereignty. I'm going to take my life in my hands here and basically say, it's a sham. It doesn't really exist. You're all fooling yourself at one level, because when the feds want to do something, the feds do it anyway. Take that. Governor.
Listen, well, first.
How are you, Kevin? First off.
There is a history. I mean, you go back, in the in the late 50s, Dwight Eisenhower, President Eisenhower called up the troops in Arkansas, to desegregate schools. And then LBJ called up the troops. But the difference was he called up Arkansas troops, and LBJ crawled up Alabama troops. And so so the president has the authority if there is a problem and there is a conflict between the state governor and the president, United States, the president, United States can federalize those troops. I don't have a problem with that. My only issue was let's not pit one state against another. So the president does have that authority? I wouldn't.
Say take it away from let's take it away from the National Guard. I'm talking about a much at a much more general level of the relationship between the state and the federal government, for example, the ability of the federal government to use federal matching funds to force you to do things that you don't want to do.
I think that's a problem. I think the the state should have more flexibility with block grants and more flexibility on spending. I mean, Snap benefits, for example, we spend about $2 billion on food insecurity in Oklahoma, and we asked for a waiver. The Trump administration gave it to us because we wanted to use those funds, and not be spent on Cokes and sodas and, and have those funds go further. So we want more flexibility. But to your point, the federal government has gotten too big. There's 100% agree.
Well, the president agrees with you, but you're both wrong. I can tell you that because we've taken him to court about 20 times and we've won about 19, this, president and no president has the power to withhold funds that have been appropriated by Congress, that a law came forward and said, you will fund this program, which is important to us. And yes, he tries because he's willing to be that bully on the playground. But we push back, we stand up and we're winning.
But there was always I mean, you go back to the to the speed limit, decades ago, where federal matching funds was used to force something through you.
To incentivize, though, not penalty. And I think that's I think that is the big question here. You're posing an appropriate question. And right now it's being challenged in the courts. We're seeing Congress has abdicated their ability and their their need, their role to be a check and balance. The question is, has the judiciary, too? And so states rights. While if it were up to us and the actions we take. Absolutely. We do not believe that. It's a shame. We believe it's an important construct in how the American government and democracy has been created. However, it depends on all three branches doing their jobs. And we're we're going to see if they're going to do it.
Now, I I'm glad you took me there, Gretchen.
Let's go.
Let's go. Because arguably we are in the mess that we are in because one of the branches and this sorry.
Or two.
One of the branches of the government is not doing the role that it is supposed to do, which is, of course, I mean, the checks and balances relies on Congress to play its proper role. Now, I know you're not in Congress.
And the judiciary.
The judiciary I take issue with in a different direction. But go on.
No, I just I think you're you're 100% right. You've got Congress.
I tell you what, I'll take issue with the judiciary because the judiciary is coming at it from a different angle. They're coming at it from a philosophical position. They are just giving decisions you don't like, whereas Congress is actually not doing what it's supposed to be doing.
What you're seeing with this Supreme Court is ignoring precedent that has guided just about every other Supreme Court and being willing to rewrite what that law has been, and how they're going to interpret it in ways that give more authority to a president than we have ever seen in our lifetime. But let me go to Congress. The fact that they won't do their job is unacceptable. These were successful people before they went to Congress, and now they won't stand up to an executive branch that is taking positions, sometimes philosophically opposite of of what they espouse. But the loyalty to party has somehow become more important to some than loyalty to country.
As a Republican, sir, how do you view, bearing in mind you are now in Europe, the whole Greenland debate, everything that's going on. You're hearing what people are saying. Probably there may be polite to your face, but I'm sure they're giving you a forthright view. What do you make of it?
The Greenland issue?
No, just just the the inability of the Republicans in Congress to seemingly stand up to what is taking place.
I mean, listen, again, party politics is complicated as as an executive myself, I know how hard it is to get things done. And the president is making decisions, and, he was duly elected. So, I mean, I'd have to ask my governor colleague here. What? Bashir. What what what you mean by the Congress is not standing up to the president or what issues that you that you want him want Congress to do, because we've got, not a lot of bills get passed in Congress right now. And, and, I'm sure.
I'll give you the easy one that matters to us when Congress passes a law that says you will have this program and the executive branch shall carry it out, they appropriate money to it. We end up signing contracts with them on it. And then the president pulls that funding saying he can do that. That's not legal. It's not lawful. We've sued him and gotten that money, but that's certainly us having to go to court and Congress just sitting there saying, oh, you can choose not to appropriate our dollars, not to carry forward the laws. Remember, the chief executive their role is to is to enact each of those laws.
And I would say, you know, in our states, right, our legislatures pass budgets, we negotiate with them, we get what we need in the budgets, we sign the budgets. And then it is appropriation is a mandate to spend. It's not okay. Well guess what? I don't like the mayor of this particular community. I'm not sending them any child care money, which is exactly what's happening with five states right now, because they got Democratic governors. It's punitive and it's abuse of power.
But it's taking place.
Yeah. it's happening and Congress isn't doing anything about it.
But that's a decision in its own right by those in Congress.
But the American, the American people, when you see what's happening in Minnesota, and I'm not saying it's all Tim Walz's fault. I'm saying we all have 50,000 employees that work for us, and we have people make decisions. And but when you see, systemic fraud going on, the federal government, any payor has the right to question that and say, what's going on here? Why, where are these dollars being spent? Let's let's do a timeout. Let's figure out where that's got. And I'll also throw back at you that during the Biden administration, they were weaponizing their, withholding funds, in things that they disagreed with our state on.
Let's take.
And we and we sued the Biden administration. And so but it is we can't have a system where you go from one pendulum swing to another.
Which is what you've got.
Which is what we have. And that's that is bad for democracy. It's bad for America. You can't have the the Biden administration kill the Keystone pipeline, Trump administration bring it back, Obama, kill it. Then Trump brings it back and now kill wind projects. We have to get out of that. We have to get out of these pendulum swings and let businesses work.
Here is bipartisan agreement unanimity.
Yeah. On that.
Remember that when you're in power and you try to kill a.
Pipeline, I tell you why I, I'm now going to challenge all of you on this because I'm sick and tired of hearing everybody say, there needs to be this spirit of bipartisanship, and we can't have these pendulum swings and we can't do this. But this is exactly what you've got. And it seems like there's no shift.
Well, we all believe in stability. We may disagree on a number of different issues, but our job is to get results right. We don't sit on the floor of Congress and debate theory or philosophy. We actually have to go out there and bring in the new company. The reason that we're all here, we've got to go out there and and get that new hospital and the community that hasn't had one to make our, our cities and our regions safer to better public education. And people can see our report card, but without stability, with programs pulled out from under us, it makes our job that much harder to deliver for our people. And so I do agree, the idea that the pendulum has swung too much, I think, has the American people exhausted.
I want to talk business, if I may, because and we'll come back to the current environment towards the end. You're all here selling your states and they are all as I say, I've been to all of them and they're they're beautiful. They've got incredible economic advantages in their individual ways. But you are all in competition with each other, and you arrive here in Davos or wherever you may go, and you're trying to attract international investors. How how do you do it when you're all in competition with each other and there's only a limited amount of, benefits and, perks you can offer. Start with you, Gretchen.
Yeah. Well, like quest, Michigan means business. And I think it's really.
I like you already know.
You know, it is what we have. What I have seen is that right now, the subnational relationship is more important than ever. The fact that governors are coming in, you know, and even if we're competing against one another, if we bring investment into the United States, it is good for the United States. It is good for business. It is opportunity to de-risk. I can't undo the tariff chaos that is coming out of the Oval Office sometimes daily. It is impacting business and it is impacting the state of Michigan. I have brought that message directly to the Oval Office. It is. Michigan is a deep manufacturing expertise, and manufacturing has been hit hard. Nine months of contraction. And when you're talking about autos in particular, which is our sweet spot, it's the backbone of our economy. They go back and forth over the Canadian.
Yesterday, the president says in what was a very long news conference, he says, I don't want cars to be made in Canada. I don't want cars to be made in Mexico. I want them to be made in the USA. You would agree with that at one level. But you also know that the supply chain issue requires cars to be made in those other places for the benefit, because it can't all be made.
There's not a car on the road in America right now that is 100% made in the United States. There's not one. The fact of the matter is that there are different parts of the auto ecosystem that need to be made in different places. It goes back and forth. The the everyone thinks of the southern border, but the the largest crossing in North America is from Detroit to Windsor. It is auto parts that are going back and forth nine times. Consumers are now paying a tax on those. It's why we are seeing that auto companies are pulling back and stopping, you know, their their pause because you don't know what the rules are from one minute to the next, much less what they're going to be next week. And in manufacturing you got to know ten years out, we are making decisions based on on decades of of expectations. And that's why the chaos is hurting business. It's hurting American consumers. And I think it is is hurting our standing in the world. There's no question about that.
In your case, it's a it's a question of supply of energy because you're going big for AI data center. You're all are in some cases, but you are really going for energy data centers. And that in itself is an entirely difficult area. Again, international competition.
Yeah. Well, if we're going to win the race, the technology race with China and and around the world, we have to have energy. And I've probably met with 80, 90 different ambassadors. All they want to talk about is energy. What does your grid look like? What's your makeup in your state? What's the makeup in their country? And I think that Oklahoma our energy story. It's amazing. We're 50% of our energy comes from renewables. So people don't think that about just an oil and gas state like Oklahoma. But because of our all of the above approach, our energy costs now are the most affordable in the US.
Do you like windmills?
Well, nobody likes to look at windmills.
The Danish do, but.
But but the fact is, we're a free market. We're going to allow businesses to work. I don't believe that you should get involved. And you should kill projects based on your political whims. Same thing with with pipelines. We love our oil and natural gas in Oklahoma. We should be agnostic. Let me give you an example. Germany spending a citizen in Germany spends $0.45 a kilowatt hour to heat their homes. In Oklahoma, it's $0.14. So the data centers, the manufacturer we just landed e.g. which is which is Emirates Global Electric, it's the first or aluminum, the first ever aluminum smelter to built in the US for 45 years. They're investing $6 billion in Oklahoma because of our affordable energy. And I think that's a very, very important point.
When you come here and you're you're doing your, your, your, your trips. I'm still fascinated by this idea of all the 50 states, all being in competition with each other for investment, because it's it is a, you know, even within the EU, you've got the different countries with their national governments all in competition, but you all speak the same language. You all have the same federal government, you all. And yet you've all got to find that that attractive package that you can offer, that you can offer, that you can't, that you can't.
We all have advantages. And again, when we get a large business that locates in the United States for the first time, hopefully it brings a supply chain that brings extra jobs to each of our areas. But yes, we all sell something a little different in Kentucky. We're one of the best places for an international company to put their first manufacturing facility, because we do logistics better than just about anybody. You can reach 70% of the country's population in a one day drive.
I feel I feel the other governors bristle whenever you say better than anybody.
The, we have two of the largest cargo airports in the world.
Oh, yes. That's. Yes.
Corporate headquarters in Northern Kentucky. And then 60% of every Covid vaccine that went anywhere in the world came through Louisville, Worldport.
From Kalamazoo, Michigan. By the.
Way, I love seeing those trucks roll off. But, you know.
There's not a one size fits all. The great the greatness about our founding fathers is they did create. They knew that, New York was different than South Carolina, and we shouldn't have a one size fits all from the federal government. That's why we believe in this idea of federalism, that that that Kentucky governor knows the people of Kentucky better, and Michigan and in Florida and Texas is different than Oklahoma. And so we believe in that federalism model. And it gets complicated. But yes, we have a strong federal government, and it seems like it's getting stronger. And we have to stop the pendulum swings, especially Department of Justice and the things that American people are seeing when they attack President Trump's Mar-A-Lago and and went after him. That stuff is wrong. And then I'm not saying it's right for for us to swing back on the other way that that's the problem right now, in my opinion.
That doesn't seem to be, though, in the United States at the moment. Any wish to find common ground at the at the higher political levels?
Well, I think there is for the American people. I think the American people are getting worn out. I think they want to like their neighbor. Most of us are raised that we're supposed to love our neighbor as ourself and believe that everybody is our neighbor, and being told that your neighbor is the enemy from within is just wrong. They're your neighbor just trying to do their very best in this world.
This is a question. Anybody got a question from our guests here behind the audience? Yes. There is a microphone that will come round to you. Who's got the microphones? Oh, there we go. Well just shout go on, go on.
My name is June. I'm from New York City. I do a lot of privacy advocacy and education work. And when it comes to data privacy, for example, or any kind of regulations regarding emerging technologies, AI, I think that instead of federal government, the state government actually has a lot of ingenuity and innovation when it comes to making laws and regulations suitable for emerging technology. So for topics like AI and cyber.
Except the president has been very clear that he does not want states to be legislating or making rules and regulations concerning AI. He's been very clear that this is a federal matter, that the states have no interest or have no business getting involved with.
So when it comes to these emerging technologies, what role do you think states have?
And governor.
We've got a really important role. States are more nimble than the federal government. We can move faster. It doesn't mean that we don't have bureaucracy and it doesn't take time. But I do think that we are are are there are laboratories that are happening in our in our state governments. And I do think we have an important role, regardless of what an opinion is of an individual in the federal government.
I agree, I believe that states are the right place to regulate most things, and what it means is that those companies need to come and talk with each and every one of us. They need to get out in the communities and actually work. Because what you find is when when these industries engage in the communities, that relationship is so much better. Power prices don't go up for families around them. The right amount of taxes are paid to help the school system. Those are the types of relationships that can make this work, but only if these companies are required to come to the states, form a relationship with the states and the cities and the counties that they're in.
But do need to have a commonality.
That's that's right. I mean, here's the deal. In business, and I come from the business world, you can't have 50 different, you know, regulations and you can't build cars different for Oklahoma. It would just be impractical. So you have to have some common ground across the US when you're when it's so easy to do business across states and in the US. But when it comes to protecting kids, when it comes to, you know, things that Oklahomans believe in, we should be able to enact those policies. And I think that's where the preemption from the federal government, it gets complicated. But there has to be a base set of rules when we are doing business across the US and a big industry like that. And so I think that's probably what the president's talking about. But he doesn't want to take away the authority for us to protect our citizens. I don't believe that's the that's the issue.
But in an environment where you're trying to create the most conducive, welcoming environment. Let me let me take myself, myself and my husband, where we would choose to live in the United States. How? Kevin, how would you say to me that as an LGBT, as a gay man with a husband, that I am welcome in your state, that we can enjoy a life in your state with, in a place where there are more conservative values which I can respect, provided they respect my right to live my life in my way.
Well, I think you just said it. I mean, we we respect you. You respect these values. Let's not attack one person's religion. We believe in in religious freedoms in our country. We love when foreign capital comes into our state. So, yeah, I mean.
But you know what I'm saying? The ability to create an environment that allows for difference and tolerance of difference.
Well, sure, there's there's crazy people on the fringes of all the political parties. Right. And so, you know, we don't see any kind of violence or anything towards the LGBT community in Oklahoma or, you know, so, so I would say, yeah, you're welcome. And it's a non-issue in our state. I would say.
My wife's right over there. You ought to be able to love whoever you choose. And I'm proud to have vetoed every. Yes. I'm proud to have vetoed every anti-lgbtq+ bill that's passed my legislature. I think we just need to be more welcoming all around the United States and recognize love is love.
Come to Michigan because you've got you've got protected rights in Michigan. I was the governor that was able to sign, codification of full civil rights protections for the LGBT.
This is the fascinating part of the US that I think that most of the world does not understand, because most of the world visits Florida or California or New York first and does not understand this, that, you know, over the years I've covered it, decades I've covered it, and most of the world thinks the US is a fairly simple place. It's not this underlying conflict that exists between rights and responsibilities. Duties and obligations goes to the heart of the American psyche. Would you agree?
What's your question?
Well, my.
Question is, my question is.
That America is a lot more complicated than people think.
I mean, I think absolutely I think that's fair. And, you know, I mean, back to to to the question here, we believe in freedoms in America. And so I think where everybody gets frustrated is when you think you're attacking our freedom or their freedom. Oklahoma is the freest state in the country. And as long as we're not indoctrinating and pushing things in our education system, I think that's where people get frustrated. And that's why I believe in school choice. So I think that may be what some of the, some of the angst that you're feeling a little bit.
No. What I'm saying is that Americans always are very quick to remind everybody of their rights, but they're less quick to remind necessarily people of their responsibilities in terms of to each other and to recognize the differences between each other.
Well, we need a lot more empathy. And we see that in the American people writ large. I mean, my state has been hit by 14 natural disasters over six years. We've been through the wringer. But every time you see people come together, they don't care who their neighbor voted for. They don't care what political party they're in. They just want to make sure that they're okay. They want to support them. And that empathy, as opposed to sympathy, means you don't have to be able to put yourself in someone else's shoes to care about them. We need a lot more of that as a government. We need a lot more of that in our federal government.
And America's a lot more than just the East Coast and the West Coast. You know, I always tell people, I know everyone thinks about the two coasts with good reason, but you should come to the middle of the country where the Fresh Coast is. The state of Michigan has more coastline than any other of the continental United States. And it's there's no sharks or salt in our water.
Well, except political ones.
Another it's not the Ohio River, but okay.
Go on, get one in for Oklahoma.
Well, we have the most frost free pork. It comes all the way to Tulsa, so we have shipping from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Most people don't.
Realize that you can enjoy it with bourbon. Did you say.
Frost free pork?
That's right.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's fresh. Right.
Another question please, from Tommy. Yes.
On this frost over.
Right. Oh.
My name is from China. So you're all welcome. Investments, globally.
I think you want your investments.
Do you welcome Chinese investment? And particularly since 2018, because of the Vermont law, the investment from China is dropping dramatically. Do you have any intention of reviving some of the investment? And also this year, I think G20 will be in the United States. And President Trump, concerned about imbalance. And the best way to correct imbalance may not be in tariff but investment. So what's your view on that?
Thank you.
The investment from China, I mean, the difficulty is that the federal government is trying to restrict that in many ways. You're nodding.
Yeah. No, I mean, I think when we think about foreign investment in Oklahoma, for example, we we we appreciate it when capital is invested there creating jobs in our state. They're building factories. China is a different story because that is, they don't we're a little bit more concerned about that. I mean, just frankly speaking, and I think that comes from the federal government and rightly so. So.
Well, this is an area where I think states can and should be able to work with the federal government. We would all put our national security in our country first. We also recognize that China is an enormous market where there's a lot of capital looking to invest in the United States. So getting that advice from the federal government, which areas what protects our national security versus what puts it at risk? Those are areas that I think we all look to work with the federal government just wanting to do it right.
This is an interesting aspect of it, isn't it? Because this is a this is the relationship where the states have to, by definition and responsibility, look to another authority to say, is this what we should be doing?
And we've seen models that work, GE appliances, which was a part of GE, which was an incredible company that broke up, was purchased by a Chinese company. It has full autonomy in the US run by a US CEO, and it's doing better than it has in decades, hiring people, reshoring, which we all want to see. We're making dishwashers in the United States again. It's been a while.
Right? There we go. Another question. Any last question? Yes, ma'am. At the back.
Hello. I represent the list of trade unions in the United States.
Yes.
Looking at, report this year on global risk coming out of the wealth inequality continues to be one of the greatest risks. And obviously, with AI on top of all of the discussions that we're already seeing where that widening wealth gap is happening. What are some of the policies that you think should be instituted to make sure that we're remedying inequality?
I love that you raised the question, Liz. I think we're all grappling with what what does a, an equitable, smart, forward looking policy look like when everything is changing so quickly? And I think the expectations of the wealth gap growing, you know, monumentally in the coming years is, is something that we're all trying to grapple with, but recognizing that it's an important issue.
Slight. Did you take the same view on that when you talk about organized labor, the the ability of organized labor to, to, to promote the, the, the furtherance of better paying jobs?
Well, I'm opposed to, you know, the mandates from the federal government. And I know that was the Biden administration push that for these projects. You have to hire, unionized labor, for example. We were opposed to that. Again, it's a free market approach. I believe when you overregulate something, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. You squeeze out the middle class by deregulating, by allowing businesses to work, you. Actually, the greatness of America is our strong, strong middle class. We cannot lose that.
So how do you avoid the race to the bottom? How do you avoid, the competitive advantage being lower labor standards?
Well, I think the the labor standards are, you talk about the federal state relationship. States are controlling our labor laws for the most part. And you're seeing you're seeing, companies move to states where policy matters, where they have, we just passed tort reform this year, which I think is very, very important in Oklahoma. We are cutting taxes. You see, you see now Oklahoma's top ten of people moving to our state, our economy could not be moving, could not be going better. And we think it's because of these pro-business policies that we've enacted.
We have five minutes left. And I want to I'd like you to address the this as both governors and Americans. The reality is that at the moment, the US, the perception of you've heard this since you've been here in Europe, I'm sure the perception of the United States in the rest of the world is going down. That is not a political statement. I covered this a gazillion times upside down in different directions. And the way in which the Greenland issue, the Greenland debate, is now taking place as governors and as Americans. How concerned are you, Governor Beshear?
I'm incredibly concerned. Over the course of just one year, this president has taken America from being leader of the free world to the bully on the playground, from trying to promote democracy worldwide, and always stand firm with our allies and friends to saying we can use force just because we can. You look at Greenland throwing NATO into doubt. Unlike Gretchen, I don't curse in public.
But this this. damn Greenland.
Play by the president is dumb as hell.
It puts.
If that's cursing.
I mean.
I think you and I.
Need to talk for this one, but. But you.
Look at this policy and and it is it is so damaging, so concerning. And this is not who we are. The American people aren't for this. We don't spend five minutes thinking about Greenland. I know that there are national security interests, but they are willing to work with us for anything we need. Let's not make our NATO partners think we won't be there for them.
You're a Republican.
Well, first off, the president, United States is the president of the United States. And yes, he has a role to as the leader of the free world. But he is also the president, United States. This America First policy is something that Americans love. And we are reshoring. We want jobs back in the US. He's pushed Europe to actually focus on their defense more. That is a good thing. If you'll talk to European leaders, they know that they needed to invest more in their defense. He has pushed them to do that NATO. He has pushed them to step up their defense. I think that's all reasonable. It's all normal. The the Greenland thing is, is is a little weird. I'll admit, because we can already put military bases on Greenland. We can.
I'm talking about the fact that the standing of the United States seems to be lower as a result of all.
This damage.
Okay. I think I think people around the world probably are, are frustrated. But the president, United States, he's focusing on America's first. He's trying to bring jobs back to America. He's speaking some common sense. I think everybody realizes that, Europe went a little crazy on the, on, on, on some of the, putting their thumb on the scale and trying to attack oil and gas and trying not to be serious about what it needs to have a base load and electricity. And so the pendulum has swung back, I think, to more reasonable, levels.
I'm very alarmed about it. And I think it's going to take us a long time to recover from this. We're one year into a four year term, and the amount of damage that's been done is going to have a long, long tail for us competitively, for our stature in the world, for trust amongst allies is forced. A we love Canadians. I'm a michigander. We love Canadians. And now you see what's happened with with Kearney having to negotiate with China on EVs and canola oil. That's our ally, our best friend negotiating with adversary on on a number of fronts. I mean, this is a very damaging policy. And to see Americans being deprived of health care, freedom to protest, the freedom to live their lives in Minneapolis. I think the confluence of all these things, I think it's a it's a very concerning time.
In American First. President wouldn't be saying, we're going to make Venezuelans rich. We're going to pay people in Greenland $100,000 while our people struggle to pay their bills.
I'm not ending on a sour note or a down note. I'm going to end on a positive note for the United States. You're each governor of your state. All right. If you were to invite your fellow governors to visit you in your state, where would you take them and what would you do with them?
I would I would take you to one of the Great Lakes. Michigan really is blessed to have the most coastline of any other state in the, in the contiguous U.S. and.
What would you feed them?
Spectacular. Oh, I mean, whitefish out of Lake Michigan.
Where would you take your fellow governors?
Oh, I'd take them on the Bourbon Trail, and we'd.
All have a heck of a time.
Governor, where would you take us?
I would take him to an Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game. Reigning world champion. Okay.
You've got it there already.
And then we would, we'd go have a great, Oklahoma beef steak.
Point guard went to UK from Canada. We can all get along with shy.
We have found common ground.
Ladies and. Thank you, thank you.
Good job.