Minister-President Wüst traveled to the United States of America

“The United States of America is and will remain our most important transatlantic partner. We face the same major challenges: the green transformation of industry, the strengthening of security and defense policy, and modernization in a digital world. We share common goals and are bound by friendship,” said Minister-President Hendrik Wüst. “The liberal world order is being challenged like never before. It is high time that the turnaround becomes a reality and picks up speed. We can only achieve this with a strong transatlantic alliance and joint efforts in security and defense policy. There is no turning back.”

During his trip, Minister-President Wüst promoted North Rhine-Westphalia as an investment location. North Rhine-Westphalia is already particularly attractive for direct investment from abroad, including from the USA. “The world is investing in the Rhine and Ruhr,” said Minister-President Wüst. “North Rhine-Westphalia is the top German state for foreign investment. That speaks for our location and for our policy of transformation. I promoted our outstanding conditions in the USA. We want to further expand our potential in business and research in order to maintain and create good and secure jobs.”

North Rhine-Westphalia is the German location for aerospace. Every European astronaut is trained in Cologne. The construction of Rheinmetall’s armaments factory in Weeze exemplifies the expansion of the military aerospace sector in North Rhine-Westphalia. In Palmdale, California, Minister-President Wüst visited Northrop Grumman, where the center fuselage parts of the F-35A fighter jet manufactured in Weeze were assembled into the overall fuselage part on behalf of Lockheed Martin. During his trip, he also visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los Angeles, a leading center for robotic exploration of the solar system.

The second major focus of the trip was the topic of artificial intelligence. North Rhine-Westphalia is on the path from coal to AI, as recently underlined by Microsoft’s billion-euro investment in the digital and quantum region of the Rhineland. At Microsoft in Seattle, the focus was on strengthening the partnership between North Rhine-Westphalia and Microsoft in the long term. In Silicon Valley, the center of developments in artificial intelligence, Minister-President Wüst visited Google, one of the world’s leading drivers of innovation in artificial intelligence. At Stanford University, he discussed research into the applied use of AI at one of the world’s most research-intensive and renowned universities. He also gave a keynote speech on the topic of artificial intelligence at the “Transatlantic AI Symposium: Europe’s Heartbeat of Innovation” organized by NRW.Global Business in Silicon Valley.

Minister-President Hendrik Wüst: “North Rhine-Westphalia is on its way to becoming the leading digital and quantum region in Germany and Europe. Silicon Valley and North Rhine-Westphalia – they simply go well together. What California is for the USA today, we want to become for the whole of Europe. We have the know-how, the infrastructure, and the innovative strength. In Silicon Valley, the cradle of the digital revolution, we want to deepen existing strong collaborations and forge new ones.”

The film and media location of North Rhine-Westphalia was also promoted during the trip. North Rhine-Westphalia is a film state, with 162 production companies based there. In Los Angeles, Minister-President Wüst presented the documentary film “MOSES – 13 Steps,” which was funded by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. The film was produced by a Cologne-based production company in cooperation with the production company of Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman. The film screening was followed by a film industry-themed evening to strengthen cooperation between California and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Background North Rhine-Westphalia and the United States of America

Almost 14,500 Americans (one in five Americans living in Germany) currently live in North Rhine-Westphalia. More than 1,700 American companies are located in North Rhine-Westphalia. Conversely, many large companies from North Rhine-Westphalia are represented in the USA. The volume of foreign trade between North Rhine-Westphalia and the USA amounted to around 32.6 billion euros in 2023. This puts the USA in 4th place among North Rhine-Westphalia’s foreign trade partners.

Both countries are investing in their economic relations. The volume of direct investment from North Rhine-Westphalia in the USA amounted to 38.4 billion euros in 2021. The USA invested 15 billion euros in North Rhine-Westphalia. US investment in North Rhine-Westphalia has risen again in recent years (2019: 6.1 billion euros, 2020: 10.8 billion euros). The current investment volume is the largest for over 10 years (2012: 16.9 billion euros).

The knowledge and research landscape is highly networked. There are currently around 250 collaborations between universities in North Rhine-Westphalia and the USA. The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia has taken the pronounced cooperation in diplomacy, business, and education as an opportunity to recognize, strengthen, and celebrate the close relationship with the NRW-USA Year 2023/24.