‘Texas is the place to be’ for business, Gov. Abbott stresses in wrap-up of East Asia tour

TOKYO, Japan–Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrapped up his East Asia business trip by fortifying partnerships with Japanese leaders, getting advice on dealing with hurricanes and vowing more trade missions to other parts of the world.

Abbott visited Taiwan, South Korea and Tokyo for a weeklong tour, where he bragged about Texas being a Shangri-la for business, particularly in the semiconductor industry that’s critical to artificial intelligence and space exploration.

He was accompanied by Secretary of State Jane Nelson and economic development leaders from across Texas. They met with top officials in each country, including Taiwan President Lai Ching-te and South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Cho Tai-yul.

“There’s an old saying that 90% of the job is showing up,” Abbott said. “The same thing goes with international relations and with business relations. You got to show up in a country, in a business office, at their location. They like to tell their story.”

Abbott’s trip was not without controversy. The seven-day tour came as Hurricane Beryl ravaged the Houston area, leaving millions of residents without power for days. The governor did not return to Texas after the storm struck Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, leaving Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in charge.

On Friday, Abbott told The Dallas Morning News that Patrick did a “great job” in his absence.

“Had I been in Texas this entire time, the way the state responded would be exactly the same,” Abbott said.

When asked about the Houston-area problems, Abbott said work must be done to prevent chronic power loss after storms.

“The failure that we have seen is because of the lack of power to the residents across Texas, and that has to be fixed. Period,” Abbott told The News. “No Texan should ever be without power, especially for this extended time.”

As for his East Asia trip, Abbott called it the best economic development mission he’s had.

“The highest ranking government officials in all of these countries wanted to meet with the leader of Texas, and that shows how important Texas is on the global stage,” Abbott said. “In addition, you will see that the economic connections that can be made with these business leaders shows you what business leaders across America have understood: Texas is the place to be.”

But while at least one major Democrat praised Abbott for his East Asia outreach, others warned that he should focus on some of the controversial laws that may be hurting Texas’ ability to attract businesses or workers, including the state’s strict abortion ban that went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022.

“You have women who are having to flee the state to save their own lives and their ability to have families in the future,” said Lisa Turner, state director of the Lone Star Project, a Democratic research group. “It’s a tough sell. It would be very, very difficult to make the decision to move to a state like Texas as opposed to a state without a ban, where you can actually access health care when needed.”

Turner said underfunded public education, gun violence and maternal mortality are other issues that could prevent high-skilled workers and their families from taking jobs at companies moving to Texas.

Nelson, the secretary of state, disagreed.

“I don’t believe there’s any merit to that,” Nelson said. “I’m not saying that the issues that you brought up aren’t important, but business people want to talk. What they want to hear about is: what are the taxes like and what’s the regulatory environment.”

Abbott and delegates achieved their goal of connecting with future investors and retaining relationships with those already in the state, they said.

“I don’t think people fully appreciate the fact that, if Texas were a nation, we would be the seventh or eighth largest economy in the world,” Nelson said. “To have the leader of that economy in these countries talking about why Texas is so successful is huge.”

Over a cup of green tea, Abbott on Friday met with Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike about strengthening their partnership. He later signed an agreement with Hideaki, Ōmura, the governor of Aichi Prefecture, that encourages Aichi and Texas to work together on issues related to the economy, energy, biotechnology and healthcare.

During the meeting with Koike, Abbott appeared intrigued when she described the Tokyo Resilience Project, a plan that seeks to protect the city against natural disasters including storms and floods, earthquakes, fires, and volcanic eruptions and against the disruption of power and communication services in their wake.

“We’re looking into some solutions, like what you have here,” Abbott said to Koike. “After we discuss these solutions with our team, we may want to follow up with your team to learn more about how this is done.”

The governor explained how the recent hurricane caused at least the third flooding of the year for the Houston area.

“Texas is bifurcated on the East Side of Texas, which is where Houston is getting a lot of heavy rain,” he told her. “In West Texas, they have a drought. And I’m working on a solution that could solve both, and I’m intrigued about what you just said.”

Abbott’s stop in Japan was highlighted by a reception at the residence of U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel.

The United States is Japan’s No. 1 foreign investor while Japan is the United States’ top foreign investor, Emanuel said.

“No state is a better example of that leadership, and no state has been able to capture and make the most of that than in the state of Texas,” Emanuel added.

“I’m not sure this will translate for everyone else in Japan but, for the American citizen, this is what stands for bipartisanship,” Emanuel joked to applause. The ambassador is a prominent Democrat who, after serving in Congress, was former President Barack Obama’s chief of staff and then mayor of Chicago.

Later, Abbott verbally gave Emanuel a “big Texas thank you”.

Abbott was scheduled to return to Texas on Saturday.

The East Asia trip was paid for and sponsored by the Texas Economic Development Corporation, a nonprofit which says its mission is to “market and promote Texas.” That group worked in connection with Abbott’s Economic Development & Tourism office.