Official sees Tampa as trading post for world markets

The latest in a career of assignments with the federal government brought Francisco "Frank" Sánchez back home to Tampa last week.

Appointed by President Barack Obama as undersecretary of commerce for international trade, Sánchez was keynote speaker at the Hispanic Community Action Summit, organized by the White House.

He took advantage of the visit to formalize a local-federal partnership aimed at promoting exports from Tampa, where Sánchez has deep roots. Born in Ybor City, his mother, Delia Sánchez, was a child-welfare worker who helped bring Tampa its first Head Start program.

Sánchez, 52, received his law degree from Florida State University and master's degree in public administration from Harvard. He has worked in Latin American relations much of his career — with former Gov. Bob Graham, as an attorney and consultant, and in the Clinton administration.

He also ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Tampa against Pam Iorio and served as an adviser in Obama's presidential campaign before his appointment in the Commerce Department.

In an interview during his visit with CENTRO Tampa, the weekly Spanish-language publication and affiliate of The Tampa Tribune, Sánchez talked about new free-trade agreements, U.S. relations with Cuba and Tampa's growth potential.

Here are excerpts from the interview.

Q: What is the position of President Obama's administration toward Cuba?

A: Barack Obama, as a candidate, talked about the change he would bring to the U.S. policy towards Cuba. He spoke of doing two things.

First, he believes the best U.S. ambassadors in Cuba are Cuban-American citizens. Unfortunately, for many years, the ability of Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba had been restricted, and he promised to change that so that Cuban-Americans could travel as much as possible.

But beyond that, there's the human factor. To force someone with an 80-, 85- or 90-year-old grandmother to see her once every three years, which was the previous policy, that wasn't humane. When he became president, he changed that. Today, Cuban-Americans can visit their families as many times as they wish.

The second thing he spoke about was to remove the limits on money transfers to be made from the U.S. to family members in Cuba.

Q: They recently announced that Orlando will also have direct flights to Cuba.

A: Yes, and at long last we're focusing on having more person-to-person contact. As we have seen in other parts of the world, lasting change comes from within. And the best way to make it is for Cuban-Americans to have the opportunity to exchange ideas, to talk.

Q: Do you think that if Obama is re-elected he will lift the embargo?

A: I think that right now the policy is where it should be. I find it interesting that the Cuban government has finally accepted the failure of their economy, and they admit it in the changes I have seen happening, in opening the economy to small businesses.

But unfortunately, they still don't have the same liberties as other people in the world. So I won't make a prediction about what could happen in the future, but I can say that Obama's policy has brought these opportunities and that same policy is the correct one for the time being.

Q: Recently, we signed free-trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea. What can the U.S. offer?

A: There are various studies proving that with South Korea, with this new agreement, we will sell more than $11 billion in new exports — cars, machinery and services. Colombia and Panama together represent almost $2 billion in exports — machinery, advanced technology and aviation. … These are all things we can sell.

The U.S. is the largest exporter of services in the world, but we have a surplus of services compared to a deficit in product exports.

Q: What's the percentage of trade done with Latin America?

A: I don't have the number for Latin America, but U.S. exports to the Western Hemisphere — which includes Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America — represent more than 41 percent of all our exports.

Q: When you make a call to a company's customer service, it is often answered in a foreign country. What are your plans to make these jobs return to the U.S.?

A: I don't know if we will focus on a specific sector. Decisions like these will be made by each company. … What the president will do is create incentives in taxes so that companies will have the incentive to bring back those jobs, and not only those jobs, but high-paying jobs as well.

The president is focused in bringing manufacturing of both domestic and foreign companies. … For example, Toyota will be manufacturing here 100,000 cars that will be exported to other countries, including South Korea. A Japanese company will be manufacturing cars here to be sold to South Korea, and this is the direct result of the FTA, because Japan and South Korea do not have agreements.

Q: We have several agricultural products that are genetically altered, products we could not export to some countries. Is the government working on this?

A: Both the Department of Agriculture as well as my department are working to open markets around the world so that consumers can have options. If they don't want an orange or a fruit with specific characteristics, the consumer should have that option. That's why we work with our international trade partners to eliminate barriers and provide consumers in each country with more alternatives.

Q: As someone who was raised in Tampa, give us examples on what Tampa has to offer.

A: Let's start with the many assets Tampa has. Let's start with the human resource. One of the most important skills to compete in the world economy is to have multilingual people, people that understand the culture, that feel comfortable doing business beyond our borders.

Tampa has a very important diversity. In addition to that, it has a well-educated workforce with the skills needed to compete. It has great universities and an airport. It has everything needed. It has a manufacturing industry. It's close to countries that give Florida an edge to compete in the world economy.

Q: Are you also working to open new markets with Peru and Chile?

A: Yes, we already have free-trade agreements with Peru and Chile, and we have seen an extremely high increase in exports to those two countries.

Q: Since you were selected as undersecretary, how many countries have you visited and what happens in those visits?

A: I've been to 24 countries. In some of those trips, I bring American companies with me to facilitate the connections with buyers, possible representatives, and we have helped facilitate sales. Among other things, we have negotiated agreements perhaps not as comprehensive as FTAs, but agreements that have facilitated international exchange.

Q: What do you miss about Tampa?

A: My family, my friends, the warm ambience, and the Latin food.