April 4, 2025 • 42 mins
Stephen Kates, Financial Analyst-Bankrate.com
Manny Mencia- World Trade Center Miami
Manny Mencia- World Trade Center Miami
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Made in America with Rich Rothman.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hello, everybody, welcome back to the show. This is Rich Rothman,
your host of Made in America, and we're delighted to
be here and talk to you, particularly this week since
this is the week of tariffs, this is the week
of liberation. And I'm trying to find all these euphemisms
that are out there right now that we've been listening to.
But certainly it represents a major change of what's been
happening going back to almost World War two. You know,
(00:37):
it was in real clear earlier this week it said
Richard Nixon ended the gold standard, Bill Clinton ratified NAFTA,
and Donald Trump no less ambition than his aims. Today
announced a series of sweeping retaliatory tariffs designed to reorder
the global trade system established in the wake of Second
World War Two. So when I say it goes back
to World War two, I mean it goes back to
(00:58):
World War two. And I guess that's why so many
people to challenge. So we're gonna be talking about that
because everyone's talking about it. They are, you know, the
markets come down, we're in correction territory. People are very nervous.
They want to know what to do with their money.
Those who you know were close to retirement are wondering
what's going to happen to them. Even their pets are concerned.
I've seen a lot of nervous dogs lately this week
(01:19):
in the neighborhood and core Gables, so I just wanted
to be aware of that. So listen. Our guest on
the show right now is Stephen Kates. Stephen is with
the bankrate dot Com. He's a financial analyst with bankrate
dot com and we're going to go into that in
a second. And he's also which I think is really
appropriate right now, it says everyone seems to be flipping out.
He's a financial planner, So maybe we can get some
(01:40):
planning in here before the day is out be where
the show was out. But in the meantime, Steven, welcome
to Made in America.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Thank you so much. Rich, glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I'm delighted that you here. You know, it's it's very
intriguing that you know the tariffs are coming. The tariffs
are coming. It's almost like the movie The Russian Are
Coming and back from the seventies sixties, but it didn't
tries to understand that something you know, we kind of
changed the direction of what we were where we were going.
(02:13):
And in some cases it's been received very very well,
and a lot of people are saying, such as our
secretary of State, and we'll get into that Marco Rubio later,
we'll talk about that. But anothers are saying, well, I
don't know about that. You know, I'm really concerned because,
you know, I think we should be doing this. I
think it's going to be retaliatory. You know, many people
see this as attacks. And we've had Grover Norquist on
(02:36):
the show many many times, and the last time he
was on, I specifically asked Grover, whom I happen to
really think is a great guy. By the way, if
you listen to him, he's a wonderful person. I said, listen, Grover,
what do you think about these terrorists that are coming?
And he didn't really want to get super into it
because he doesn't believe in terrorists. I mean, that's the
bottom line. He just doesn't believe in terrorists. But he
talked about it, and he was concerned about a couple
(02:58):
of things. And I guess we all right right now
are concerned about it. Steven, you know, made in America,
The whole premise of our show, as we know you
probably know, is that things are made in America. America
comes first. We want to make sure that we protect
the American worker, we protect the American population, we protect
the investors, and so we're very conscious about that. I mean,
(03:21):
that's our that's our mission, that's what you want to do. Now.
Having said that, something's going on right now, and it's
spooking out a lot of people. It's obviously spooking out
Wall Street. It's going in different directions. We hear, you know,
countries are banning together, you know in Europe. Oh my god.
We have to have a response to you know, Trump's
tariff rules and regulations and liberation. We see that Mexico
(03:45):
and Canada had some reaction to it, although there's been
some exemption to that. So it's really kind of a
very colorful thing that's happening. It's pretty gutsy, I have
to say that, if that's what you're talking about, Steven.
So when you look at this landscape right now, you
look at this landscape, what are you looking at?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Well, there's a lot to look at. I think that
you know, if we start with the market, for instance,
the market is reacting very poorly. And I think one
of the interesting things about the last few days the
lead up on Wednesday to the actual announcement at four pm.
I'm glad that that was after market closed that day,
but the market went into the clothes trending upwards because
(04:28):
I think that there was some expectation that, despite a
lot of bluster coming into this week, that the tariff
announcement was not going to have as much teeth. And
those hopes were dashed immediately, and you saw that in
the post market response, and then again yesterday and today
with the actual market response. So businesses and investors are concerned,
(04:53):
and I think rightly sow about what this means for
the labor market, GDP expectations and earnings overall.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Well, I think they are. I mean, they're very concerned
about products. They're very concerned. If you think about it,
it even goes back to supply chain, it goes back.
It kind of goes back. This is sort of like
an ARC when you're writing a script, and I've done
that many times. When you write a script, you have
an arc. You have something that starts here and it
ends further down the road in the script and there's
a tag back, so there's a relationship to it, and
(05:22):
it sort of seems like when I'm watching this and
I'm thinking about it, you know, we had all this
problem in terms of supply chain and you know, near shoring,
on shoring, getting products here as the best we can.
But if you can't buy the product we're the product's
too expensive, then something's going to happen in terms of
the amount of product that you have here. I would
(05:43):
think because you're not buying as much, or maybe you're
not buying as much, but I tend to think there
could be a reaction to that as well. So there's
a lot more that goes into what we're discussing right now.
You know, it's interesting Steve that you know Marco Rubio
is in favor of it will be over saying basically
that you know, we have to reset the global order
(06:04):
of trade and Trump is absolutely right doing that. Robert Leitheiser,
whom I happen to know, and I've been with him
many many times down here as a former chair of
the World Trade Center Association down here, I met him
many many times, and he feels, you know, Trump has
every right to completely fix a broken system So but
(06:24):
let's go back to a second for a minute, and
let's talk about the realities and what people are thinking,
because very often with Marshall mcclum, it's the message as
opposed to reality, you know, it's what you see, it's
the medium is really dictating what people are thinking. So
what are people really thinking right now?
Speaker 1 (06:42):
So? I think I want to make two points on
messaging per se. So I think one thing that I've
noticed and I think is really interesting, is that the
Trump administration is significantly more unified in terms of the
messaging that they're producing than they.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Work that you're one hundred percent on that one.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
I mean, they are really reading from the same script
and doing so more effectively than they were in the
first administration. I think that's abundantly clear, and that's happened
through us three months. I think Trump himself, who likes to,
you know, add live a little bit, I think he's
been very disciplined in terms of the messaging to try
to maintain, you know, a clear concise goal of what
(07:24):
these these character are potentially trying to accomplish. However, I
think that it's going to be harder than ever to
keep doing that because there's going to be I don't
want to use the word attacks, but there's going to
be a feurer from all sides, investors, voters, consumers trying
to figure out how does this impact me and what
am I going to do? So I think the messaging
(07:47):
is going to have to stay on point if they
want to try to keep the trust of the voters,
and I think consumers, voters, you know, representatives, investors, you know,
if they want some change to what this potential policy
is going to mean, they're going to have to stay
on message too. I think, you know, just sort of
(08:08):
flailing around isn't going to help, you know, the market response.
I don't think it is going to be necessarily enough
if the administration is really, you know, is really committed
to doing what they're going to do despite whatever happens
to the investor class.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, well I tend to agree with that. I think
the messaging is very, very important because you have to
really hold hands.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
The interesting thing is, and this is what we learned
going back to COVID, is that things that were never
main street have become main street. And I'll give you
the example being that anyone who buys a product now
and has it sent to them, like from Amazon or
something like that. You know, everyone's become a little mini
corporation and you are your own logistics person. You have
your own little company, You've got your tracking number, you
(08:55):
know where the product is at any given time. You
can find out, generally speaking, where it is. And all
of a sudden logistics supply chain, you know, manufacturing on shoring,
you know, near showing. That became interestingly so main street
people are into that. They understood it. You know where
where where's the you know the case of bouncy that
(09:15):
I bought, you know where's it going? And you find
out where it is? So main street right now needs
to have I think a very very strong message. And
otherwise what's going to happen is that whoever's the loudest
person talking in the room is the one that you're
going to be listening to. You know, It's sort of
like in the American President movie, Michael J. Fox was
(09:38):
talking to the president, who's Michael Douglas and he's and
he wants the president to say something about what's happening
with whatever it is they're talking about that's important for
the re election and uh, and the point of the
matter is Michael Douglas was reluctant to get involved in
the brew haha with the other the other the you know,
the guy he's up against the in the election, and
(09:58):
and Fox says, listen, let me tell you. The point
of the matter is, these people are so starved for
the truth. They're so starved to hear something from somebody that,
you know, they will drink sand in the desert, you know,
thinking that it's water. And the truth of the matter
is people will listen to whomever they listen to the most,
the most often, the loudest and so forth, the most vociferous,
(10:20):
the most emotional, and they're going to come away with
an idea. And therefore, your right, Steve, and I think
we really got to be on target for this. So
what do you think that we should really be saying? What?
What do you think the administration, those in the Senate,
those in the Congress really need to be saying to,
you know, say, all will be well.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Well. I think that I'm not sure if the message
can really be all will be well. I think that
you can say in certain you know, a certain number
of years, you know, if all goes to plan, if
we get trade concessions. If we get less currency manipulation,
you know from from certain countries, we may get restoring,
but we're also going to get higher prices. You can't
(11:05):
get restoring and in more manufacturing in the US without
prices rising, and I think that's a reality. So the
truth is that prices will go up. That may benefit
some segments of the population, but is also going to
mean that a large part of the population is going
to have to pay more for certain goods if these
stand as they are set out today. And I think
(11:27):
one thing we also know is that the administration is negotiating.
This is there's no finality to this. In my opinion,
that they are negotiating. They're hoping for concession. They want
countries to come to the table so that they can
make better deals, and maybe that puts the US in
a better position. Hopefully it does. I certainly hope that
we end up at a better position in the future
(11:47):
than we are today. But we're going to go through
some turmoil, and I think the administration needs to be
honest about the fact that consumers and investors are going
to need to be extremely patient and trustful. Whether they
can maintain that is yet to be seen.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Okay, well, we're gonna, you know up, Steven, we're gonna
we're gonna take a quick break. We're gonna make a
couple of bucks for the affiliates around the country, and
then we're gonna be right back with Stephen Kates, who's
financial analyst with bankrate dot com. We're talking about tarifs.
We're gonna find out what's gonna be left in your pocket,
maybe even at the end of this week. We'll be
right back. Don't go anywhere. Okay, Welcome back to MAIDI
(12:36):
in America. This is Rich Roflin speaking your host for
maid in America right here on the phone right now
with Stephen Kates. Steven's a financial analyst with bankrate dot com.
We're talking about tariffs. We're actually talking about where your
money's going and how you're gonna be able to you know,
get products and when you go to home depot next
week and a thing is gonna be more expensive, probably
to a degree. But uh, Steven, let me this is
(12:57):
very interesting. You touched on something in the last and
that is that you know, Trump unveiled these new rates
which was calculated not just from tariffs. You know, he
created a chart which we could discuss very briefly. You know,
one side is what they do to us, and the
other side is of what we're gonna do to them,
so to speak. But he calculated the tariff from other
(13:18):
nations imposed in US. But he also included, which is
kind of interesting, currency manipulation hello China, and other trade
barriers such as, for example, in Japan. If Harley Davidson
sends you know, motorcycles, which they do into Japan because
it's a known global brand, those motorcycles interestingly have to
(13:39):
be broken down and reassembled in Japan. Now that's not
necessarily a tariff, but it certainly causes an increase in
the price, which is the effect of a tariff anyway.
So there's all sorts of things that go on. I
guess Steven, that transcend just a terror by definition of
a terraf. So I find it, maybe you do too interesting,
(14:01):
And this is pretty convoluted. How to calculate all this stuff?
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (14:06):
It's extremely complicated? You know, I don't think that there's
you know, any any good way for you know, the
average person to probably try to reverse engineer that what
appears to be the case with the manner with which
the administration sort of applied these reciprocal tariffs is they
took the difference between what is exported to us from
(14:31):
a given country and what our trade deficit is with that,
divided them and came out with a percentage that, as
Trump mentioned, he said, and then we have and cut
that into And so if you look at China, for instance,
and you take what they export to us and what
(14:51):
the trade deficit is and you divide those in have
you get sixty four percent, which the Trump as administration
then cut in half to thirty four percent. So that's
the way that they calculated those numbers, which is a
bit of a rough and ready way to sort of
get to some of this and doesn't take the nitty
gritty itemized details of trade barriers, non trade barriers, currency,
(15:17):
which is going to be incredibly complicated to do. So
in a manner of speaking, they kind of cut to
the chase and said, this is what we've decided is appropriate.
I don't necessarily think that that probably is fully accurate,
but it's what has happened, and that's what we're dealing with.
(15:37):
And I think that regardless of putting tariffs on countries,
certain countries like Vietnam, it's just announced that they're coming
to the table, and yeah, yeah, you know, and I
think countries like that, you know, will have to come
to the table. I mean to me, I think two things,
you know, when you think just about Vietnam as an example. One,
(16:00):
there is no way that they could have a balance
trade with us. We are a richer country, We are
a far larger country. There is no way that we
could be importing as much to them as they import
to us. The idea that Vietnam or Cambodia is getting
rich off the back of Americans is preposterous. They're just
(16:20):
a much poorer country and they supply a lot of
goods that we utilize at a high rate, like apparel.
You know, costs on apparel they can't afford to eat,
and consumers here don't want to pay. I think ultimately
their economies need us, and therefore they have to come
(16:42):
to the table.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Well, I think you're right. You know, Kudlow said this
a long long time ago when they were starting to
bring up the idea of taris. This is going back
quite a few actually before he did the inauguration, and
he saw it as you just aptly described as a tool.
You know, it is a tool to get what you want,
to leverage the other person to do what you want.
(17:05):
And I don't think it's a bad thing. I mean,
you look out there, you know. I remember my sister
lived in Brazil for many, many years. She married a
Brazilian doctor. How cliche is that, and American products going
into Brazil were tapped for almost one hundred percent at
the time if you bought afford made in the United
(17:25):
States that was exported down to Brazil. I'm making this up.
A ten thousand dollars forward became a twenty thousand dollars forward.
It was just ridiculously expensive. So those things exist around
the world, and I think I don't think it's a
bad thing to address it. I really don't. And I
got to tell you something, when Leiightheiser makes a comment,
I have to think he's enormously bright, and he does
(17:47):
a remarkably good job in terms of looking out you know,
as a US trade rep doing good things for US.
So I kind of take that pretty seriously when he
thinks it's a pretty good idea that time is kind
of Trump has every right to do that, and I
think he does. The question is the volatility? It would
agree the volatility. So looking out from that, I'm going
(18:08):
to ask you a put on your We have about
two minutes left. Your financial planner had now a people
out there and they're listening. They're saying, well, my god,
you know what do I do? Where do I go?
What are you going to say to these guys as
a financial planner?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
So I want to I want to break up my
message to two different groups. One people who are not
retiring in the near term, so we're thinking multiple years,
multiple decades from now. This is simply one of the
volatile times that you're going to live through in your life.
There's going to be many There have been more in
the past, there will be many more in the future.
(18:43):
You need to maintain a plan. If you don't have
a plan, now's not a great time to build one.
It's a better time to do it, though, than waiting
till later. So have a financial plan. If you don't
know how to build one, Taco financial advisor, but get
some something on paper so that you can go back
to it, look at this and say these are my goals,
this is my plan. These are the policies that I'm
(19:06):
going to follow to accomplish my goals.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Well, there you have it. There's sage advice, Steven. If
people want to get a hold of you, is there
a way for them to do that communicate with you?
Speaker 1 (19:18):
So i'd plug bankrate dot com. We're covering all of
these details as well as basically anything to do with
personal finance, from mortgages to credit cards to investing. You
can certainly look me up on LinkedIn or on X.
I've certainly got a deeper bench of content on LinkedIn
that I have had on X. But those are places
that you're going to hear from me and see some
(19:38):
of the things I have to say.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Well, that's terrific, Steve. I want to thank you so
much of being I Made in America. Stephen Kates, financial
analyst with bankrate dot Com. We're going to be right
back with more show, more information, and maybe a couple
of things that will say to you a couple of
bucks along the way. We'll be right back to Maid
in America.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Promoting American industry. This is Made in America with Rich Rothman.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Welcome back to Made in America. Delighted to be with
you today. I had a great conversation with Stephen Kage
from bank Great dot com. You know, we were talking
about tariffs and the effect that's having on folks both
emotionally and physically in the real world, and you know
what the truth is, and somewhere in between is the
reality of what's going to happen. A lot of bad
(20:34):
news goes out there, and I would presume those who
are not in favor of Trump, the globalists, for example,
are going to do everything they can to thwart this
ability to do something anything for that matter, that you
know the Trump administration wants to do. There's no question
about that. And I would knock doubt for a second
that any of the mainstream media, the alphabets, you know,
(20:55):
channels such as ABC, NBCCBS, MSNBC, CNN and all those
other guys, they'll do anything they can to accentuate the
negative and there is no positive. It doesn't exist because
we all know that, you know, Trump is the biggest
threat to democracy in the world. So we understand all that.
That's what they espouse every day, except now they're going
to be doing and working with those on Wall Street.
(21:17):
And I have to say, I think to a degree,
Wall Street, we all know Wall Street is very finicky anyway,
and minor little things will set somebody off. So I
don't know. Maybe if Kentucky Fried Chicken runs out of Coslow,
that would affect the market. I have no idea anyway.
On the on the show with us right now is
Many Mencia. Many Mencia is in the state of Florida's
(21:38):
in Miami. Manny was the executive senior vice president for
Enterprise Florida, which is sort of like the Department of Commerce.
Is we called it different here in the state of Florida.
Many will explain that. So in in fact, Manny was
in charge of international business for the State of Florida
for five different governors. I'd like to welcome Manny Mencia
to Made in America.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Thank you, Rich a pleasure being here with you today.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Well, I'm really glad you're here, Manny. I just want
to get it straight so the folks out there really understand,
you know, what you did for so many years because
you were, you know, involved with the government five different administrations.
I think, did I get that right? Five different governors.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Yes. I served studying in the Lowton Child's administration and
finished after three years with fron dissenters. So I could
tell you know, I would say that I served you know,
governors from both parties and from a wide range of
political orientation. I did it for twenty five years. I
(22:43):
was hired in Night at the end of nineteen ninety
six to begin to create a new international problem for
the State of Florida. The Florida had one you know,
managed by the Florida Department of Commerce. What I worked
for a few years, but by closing the Department of
(23:04):
Commerce and creating what became the first of the private
dot for profit economic development models in the United States,
Enterprise Florida, we wanted to go in a different direction
and create a new program with how would you call it,
with new targets and new products and so on and
(23:26):
so forth. One of the first things that I did
Rich is I inherited the six Foreign Office Network offices
in team markets around the world like London and Tokyo.
The challenge there was that we essentially had sent Florida
State employees to these markets, drawing State of Florida level silaries, which,
(23:48):
as you know, don't get you too far either in
Tokyo or London. So that one of the first things
that I did is basically recalled those positions and we
launched the new program based on performance based contracts two
companies that were already establishing that market, and that proved
to be extremely successful. By the time I left Enterprise
(24:11):
for that network had grown to I believe it was
eighteen officers.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
So this is they went to that in the second So, Manny,
so you work with five different governors, both on the
left and the right, you know, Democrat and Republican. They
all did a pretty good job, and you did a
spectacular job because you had a really good twenty five
year run. So what I want to figure out, Manny,
and this is going to go back what you were
just talking about, how you set this system right thround
(24:38):
the world. Something there's something very special about Florida. You know,
it's sort of like there's something very special in Illinois.
There's something in the DNA. And they have a lot
of corruption. You know, we don't have that as much,
but they have, you know, a lot of their their
they're elected officials, got indicted up there. So people would
always say, well, you know it's in the water, it's
(24:59):
in their DNA. What is it?
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Minnie?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
That's so special because here we're looking at made in America.
We're looking for people to produce products in the United
States and do innovation in R and D and manufacturing.
So why is it, Minnie that Florida is so much
in play right now, particularly with the concept of bring
it back home. Do it here. Let's attract foreign direct investment.
(25:24):
That's something that Trump is trying to do really hard.
What is We're very special, aren't we?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Oh, no question about it, no question about it. That
was one of the key how you call it reasons
for everything that we did is we believe that even
back then that Florida had all the ingredients necessary for
explosive growth. Let's begin with the most obvious geography. I've
(25:54):
always believed that geography is destiny. Okay, are your location
is the source of much of what will happen to
your to your state, or to your region, et cetera.
And Florida has one of the most privileged locations in
(26:14):
the world with it in the midst of the you know,
the epicenter of the Western hemisphere, ideally located also for
each west trade, not only north south. We are blessed
also with a tremendous international infrastructure. For example, here in
(26:34):
South Florida, we're both based. You have Miami International Airport
number two in terms of international passengers in the US,
number one in international freight. So this is a tremendous asset,
as are two seaports within thirty miles of another of
one another Port of Miami and Port Everglas, So an
(26:56):
excellent you know road network, all kinds of you know
of of blessings like that from the infrastructural site. And
then as the third component with is the you know,
the human component. We have a a highly qualified, extremely
(27:16):
diverse population in in in Florida with uh uh, a
plethora of language opportunity of of cultural awareness and as
important or more excellent contacts in markets around the world.
At a fourth UH A fourth led to the school
(27:38):
are our knowledge based and international services uh uh how
do you call it? Network? Are uh? We have one
of the largest concentrations of international service providers UH in
the United States. UH. And if you were to focus
(28:00):
on it's UH concentration and it's it's affinity to Latin America,
I would say there's not a place in the world
where you have the concentration of expertise in doing business
in the Americas as you do in South Florida and
in Florida State.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Well, yeah, no, we're a very unique place. But I
want to go back to the governmental side for a second,
and we're a very business friendly state. You know, they
call us a free state, and I think that came
out even more during the COVID because we were a
free state. We didn't go along with all the shutdowns
(28:41):
that other states did and completely destroy themselves. We didn't
do that. But we are a very very pro business state.
One of the things is, you know, we don't have
a corporate tax the way the way other states do.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yes, yes, absolutely, that's a huge advantage when recruited companies
UH to Florida, which, by the way, as you know,
we've been extremely successful over the last few years. UH.
I would like to get to go to to claim
credit for it, but a lot of good things have
happened since I left Enterprise Florida around three years ago. UH.
(29:19):
We look going back to what you said, government has
been a positive agent in the last decades for the
expansion of UH of Florida into one of the great
business centers of UH of the United States, and by
the way, Uh, Florida's ranks along with Texas, has the
(29:40):
two best business climates in the United States. That's a
terrific uh calling cards for us when we go out
looking for business, et cetera. And then we can deploy
all the other advantages like you mentioned, no personal income
tax uh uh so many other things that uh, you know, law, tax, law,
tax rates, so many things that we can then deploy
(30:03):
to help companies, comitans succeed in the state of Florida.
Another thing that makes us very unique, Richard, is small business.
Florida is a small business universe. We create more small
businesses that probably any state in the United States. In fact,
the overwhelming majority of our exports are done by small businesses.
(30:24):
By the way, that's unique in the United States. And
in most of the United States you have some you know,
heavy hitters, you know, going in instead of Washington, you
have you know, the Caterpillar, so that you have companies
that dominate different states. In Florida, it's a team effort.
We have something like fifty thousand exporters that export about
(30:50):
sixty percent of everything our state produces. Compare that to
about thirty one percent between thirty one and thirty three
percent at the national level. So if another component, believe
it or not. Back in my day, when I was
working at the Miami Bacon Council at the Florida Department
of Commerce, education was a minus for us. People bemoaned,
(31:17):
you know that we were not the best state to
educate children today Florida.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, we wanted the United States major in basket weaving
down here. That's what they used to say a long
long time ago. That doesn't happen anymore. We're remarkable state.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yeah, we we have. We are rated the best K
to twelve public school system in the United States. Our
universities have gone from being as you say, you know,
you know sometime new et cetera, et cetera, too, extremely
successful with some of the best programs in the United States.
For example, Florida International Education flord International University are are
(32:00):
our local university now ranks among the best state universities
in the United States, as do all the universities in Florida.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
No, it's a remarkable place. But what I'm interested in, Mannie,
and we know this being down here. With the the
advent of near shoring, on shoring manufacturing close to the home,
supply chain problems and logistics. You know, we we have
(32:31):
a very deep concern and there's a lot of competition
amongst countries at Columbia, Dominican Republic, and others that are
close by within hours of the United States, particularly Miami,
and of course Miami being the geopolitical sphere and influence
of all of this, because as you just aptly pointed out,
(32:52):
you know, we're close to the United States, we're sticking
out into the Caribbean, We're close to Central South America.
We have direct access to different parts of the world,
and we certainly you know, you can get there from here,
you know, to multiple places around the world better than
most other airports. We have the best technology at airports
and ports. I mean, we're really a unique place. So
(33:13):
it would seem to me that as we move forward
with this administration and making things in America, you know,
we're in the right place at the right time to
really emphasize what's happening. And I think, Manny, when we
look out there and see all the fortune five hundreds
and companies that have moved here in the last two
years two and a half years, and all the new
(33:35):
buildings that are going up my got it looks like
Beijing back in two thousand and three, two thousand and four,
and you had all these cranes. Half the cranes of
the world were in red China in China, and they
were building buildings there. So you know, we seem to
be exactly in the right place right now. So having
said that, Manny, you know, it looks like agree or disagree,
(33:56):
we happen to be a really good selection. Uh. If
we're going to go and work with this administration, this
seems like the state to do it in.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Oh, no question about it. Uh, no question about it.
We have an extraordinarily positive business climate and a if
I may say so myself, an effective leadership supported by
a state government that is uh totally pro business. UH.
A local government which is likewise very mindful of what
(34:30):
they need to do in order to keep U the
tap open. Another thing that has gone very right for
us is, uh our I is that are management of
the pandemic here in Florida. Our ability to reopen early
enough was a huge catalyst.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
We did. We did, Manny, We did a really really
good job on that. All right, I'm gonna ask you
to hold that thought for a minute. Because we have
to take a break and make a few dollars for
the affiliates and the show itself. We're gonna be right
back with Many Mencia. This is made in America. Don't
go anywhere. We've got a lot more show for you.
(35:16):
We'll go back to Nadia America. This is Rich Rothman,
your host, delighted to have you here today. We're on
the show right now with Many Men Sea. Many for
twenty five years ran the basically international business with the
State of Florida at Enterprise Florida or a remarkable job.
He worked for five different governors, five different administrations, both
Democratic and Republican Conservative, did a remarkable job and is
(35:39):
one of the most knowledgeable international businessmen in Florida and
around the world. He's his influence extends into his Central
South America, but he also has worked with all these
different leaders and governors throughout the world, whether it's in China, Israel,
or it's the UK, or it's you know, India and
so forth. We're a remarkable place to be. Many we're
(36:01):
talking about the uniqueness of for Florida that we're in
a very very wonderful place to be. And let's flash
forward a little bit to the twenty first century, because
you've been around for a while and you were very
influential in developing new socioeconomics and new types of business
and development for the state of Florida with aerospace and
you know, technology things like that. And in fact, there's
(36:24):
a show coming up at the World Trade Center fairly
soon regarding that, Manny, When you look out into the
future for Florida, you know, what sort of products and
services do you see us coming up with that we're
really looking forward to developing. Now.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Well, I see Florida continue to be a very highly
diversified state, were traditional industries like tourism, construction, agriculture continue
to thro i've but alongside other sectors like a very
(37:06):
uh uh robust and rapidly expanding technology sector uh in
things like aviation aerospace, where by the way, Florida and
defense were Florida ala. These ranks number two in the
United States among the states UH. Information technology, where we
(37:27):
rank I believe number four UH and life sciences, for
Florida is a powerhouse in both pharma and medical devices
and all the other aspects of medical services and products.
Florida has the second largest concentration of medical companies and
(37:48):
businesses in the United States. So so we have a
very robust, trapped how do you call it, uh, robust
and rapidly expanding closter all of these industries that will
serve us.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
I believe in the future you're going to see things
like AI and so on continue to grow. Uh. You know,
this is by the way, been in the DNA of
Florida and Miami for for many, many years. We just
have failed to uh to to to to take advantage
and capitalize on it until until the until the last
(38:25):
decades of the twentieth century and into the twenty first century.
But we've always we've always been there, you know. It's
I always remind people when they when I talk about
Florida's technology that Florida is not only the birthplace of
the United States Space Program, but also of commercial aviation, which,
as you know, began here in Miami at at dinner
(38:47):
keep with the Panama Clippers.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Well, actually the right Brothers through planes down here very
very early in One of the first passenger terminals in
the entire United States was right here in Miami. So
we've always been interested in aviation going back to the
early nineteen hundreds, believe it or not, so it's been
a unique place. Many I got to ask you a
question and we were discussing this, and it's about the
(39:12):
tariffs that are, you know, hitting the countries right now.
I'd like to get your thoughts. Since you were the
leader for international in the state of Florida, I think
your point of view and your perspective would be very
interesting to listen to. Good bad, are indifferent? Now? What
are your thoughts? What are your thoughts as you know,
a person went out to other countries with governors and
(39:36):
presidents and so forth. How do you feel about this?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
This?
Speaker 2 (39:39):
I mean, and I'm not casting dispersions in any way whatsoever,
because I'm not totally against the tariffs. I'm not at all.
I think there's a purpose for it. And you know,
Many Robert Leithheiser, who we've met before down here, you know,
the US Trade Rep is in favor of what's going
on right now, and he's a pretty smart guy. He
really understands trade. Curious, what's your point of view on that?
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Well? Speaking as a historically pro open trade, freer trade
type international executives, I do believe the United States has
placed itself into a different difficult competitive position at this point.
(40:24):
While yes, we all want to encourage more and easier
flow of merchandise between countries, etc. Unfortunately the United States
put itself in a position where it allows many of
our fundamental industries to basically be taken away by cheaper
(40:48):
competitions that protected their markets against our products, yet was
able to access our market in an unfederal manner. I
think you have to have some type of of of
fairness in the competition, and I believe that's what the
administration is trying to do. I also, frankly, you know,
(41:12):
having read the art of the deal, believe that President
Trump UH sees this as the first salboid in a
negotiation which I believe I would hope would result into
the in the reduction of terrorists by our trading partners
around the world, at which time Trump will reduce our
(41:35):
own tariffs to UH to a much lower amount. And
it just doesn't make sense when you have, for example,
not to pick on them because they're a great trading
partner in the charging sixty four percent UH average tariffs
of US products, and we charge them we less five
percent the products that come from their country. We have
(41:57):
that that uh you know that with so many of
the major trading countries in the world.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Okay, well, I just find it very very inter I mean,
we are charged tariffs. We do have problem getting product
around the world in many many countries, you know, and
I think it's time to even the playing field. All right, Hey, listen,
delightful that you were here today to join us. Made
in America. Terrific show. Really enjoyed Stephen Kates talking about,
(42:27):
you know, tariffs and so forth. Many Mencia just the
number one person in the state of Florida and certainly
around the world to bring business into the state of Florida,
has a great, great vision as to make things successful.
And we'll see you next week. Don't go anywhere, We're
gonna be right here.
This is Made in America with Rich Rothman.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hello, everybody, welcome back to the show. This is Rich Rothman,
your host of Made in America, and we're delighted to
be here and talk to you, particularly this week since
this is the week of tariffs, this is the week
of liberation. And I'm trying to find all these euphemisms
that are out there right now that we've been listening to.
But certainly it represents a major change of what's been
happening going back to almost World War two. You know,
(00:37):
it was in real clear earlier this week it said
Richard Nixon ended the gold standard, Bill Clinton ratified NAFTA,
and Donald Trump no less ambition than his aims. Today
announced a series of sweeping retaliatory tariffs designed to reorder
the global trade system established in the wake of Second
World War Two. So when I say it goes back
to World War two, I mean it goes back to
(00:58):
World War two. And I guess that's why so many
people to challenge. So we're gonna be talking about that
because everyone's talking about it. They are, you know, the
markets come down, we're in correction territory. People are very nervous.
They want to know what to do with their money.
Those who you know were close to retirement are wondering
what's going to happen to them. Even their pets are concerned.
I've seen a lot of nervous dogs lately this week
(01:19):
in the neighborhood and core Gables, so I just wanted
to be aware of that. So listen. Our guest on
the show right now is Stephen Kates. Stephen is with
the bankrate dot Com. He's a financial analyst with bankrate
dot com and we're going to go into that in
a second. And he's also which I think is really
appropriate right now, it says everyone seems to be flipping out.
He's a financial planner, So maybe we can get some
(01:40):
planning in here before the day is out be where
the show was out. But in the meantime, Steven, welcome
to Made in America.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Thank you so much. Rich, glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I'm delighted that you here. You know, it's it's very
intriguing that you know the tariffs are coming. The tariffs
are coming. It's almost like the movie The Russian Are
Coming and back from the seventies sixties, but it didn't
tries to understand that something you know, we kind of
changed the direction of what we were where we were going.
(02:13):
And in some cases it's been received very very well,
and a lot of people are saying, such as our
secretary of State, and we'll get into that Marco Rubio later,
we'll talk about that. But anothers are saying, well, I
don't know about that. You know, I'm really concerned because,
you know, I think we should be doing this. I
think it's going to be retaliatory. You know, many people
see this as attacks. And we've had Grover Norquist on
(02:36):
the show many many times, and the last time he
was on, I specifically asked Grover, whom I happen to
really think is a great guy. By the way, if
you listen to him, he's a wonderful person. I said, listen, Grover,
what do you think about these terrorists that are coming?
And he didn't really want to get super into it
because he doesn't believe in terrorists. I mean, that's the
bottom line. He just doesn't believe in terrorists. But he
talked about it, and he was concerned about a couple
(02:58):
of things. And I guess we all right right now
are concerned about it. Steven, you know, made in America,
The whole premise of our show, as we know you
probably know, is that things are made in America. America
comes first. We want to make sure that we protect
the American worker, we protect the American population, we protect
the investors, and so we're very conscious about that. I mean,
(03:21):
that's our that's our mission, that's what you want to do. Now.
Having said that, something's going on right now, and it's
spooking out a lot of people. It's obviously spooking out
Wall Street. It's going in different directions. We hear, you know,
countries are banning together, you know in Europe. Oh my god.
We have to have a response to you know, Trump's
tariff rules and regulations and liberation. We see that Mexico
(03:45):
and Canada had some reaction to it, although there's been
some exemption to that. So it's really kind of a
very colorful thing that's happening. It's pretty gutsy, I have
to say that, if that's what you're talking about, Steven.
So when you look at this landscape right now, you
look at this landscape, what are you looking at?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Well, there's a lot to look at. I think that
you know, if we start with the market, for instance,
the market is reacting very poorly. And I think one
of the interesting things about the last few days the
lead up on Wednesday to the actual announcement at four pm.
I'm glad that that was after market closed that day,
but the market went into the clothes trending upwards because
(04:28):
I think that there was some expectation that, despite a
lot of bluster coming into this week, that the tariff
announcement was not going to have as much teeth. And
those hopes were dashed immediately, and you saw that in
the post market response, and then again yesterday and today
with the actual market response. So businesses and investors are concerned,
(04:53):
and I think rightly sow about what this means for
the labor market, GDP expectations and earnings overall.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Well, I think they are. I mean, they're very concerned
about products. They're very concerned. If you think about it,
it even goes back to supply chain, it goes back.
It kind of goes back. This is sort of like
an ARC when you're writing a script, and I've done
that many times. When you write a script, you have
an arc. You have something that starts here and it
ends further down the road in the script and there's
a tag back, so there's a relationship to it, and
(05:22):
it sort of seems like when I'm watching this and
I'm thinking about it, you know, we had all this
problem in terms of supply chain and you know, near shoring,
on shoring, getting products here as the best we can.
But if you can't buy the product we're the product's
too expensive, then something's going to happen in terms of
the amount of product that you have here. I would
(05:43):
think because you're not buying as much, or maybe you're
not buying as much, but I tend to think there
could be a reaction to that as well. So there's
a lot more that goes into what we're discussing right now.
You know, it's interesting Steve that you know Marco Rubio
is in favor of it will be over saying basically
that you know, we have to reset the global order
(06:04):
of trade and Trump is absolutely right doing that. Robert Leitheiser,
whom I happen to know, and I've been with him
many many times down here as a former chair of
the World Trade Center Association down here, I met him
many many times, and he feels, you know, Trump has
every right to completely fix a broken system So but
(06:24):
let's go back to a second for a minute, and
let's talk about the realities and what people are thinking,
because very often with Marshall mcclum, it's the message as
opposed to reality, you know, it's what you see, it's
the medium is really dictating what people are thinking. So
what are people really thinking right now?
Speaker 1 (06:42):
So? I think I want to make two points on
messaging per se. So I think one thing that I've
noticed and I think is really interesting, is that the
Trump administration is significantly more unified in terms of the
messaging that they're producing than they.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Work that you're one hundred percent on that one.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
I mean, they are really reading from the same script
and doing so more effectively than they were in the
first administration. I think that's abundantly clear, and that's happened
through us three months. I think Trump himself, who likes to,
you know, add live a little bit, I think he's
been very disciplined in terms of the messaging to try
to maintain, you know, a clear concise goal of what
(07:24):
these these character are potentially trying to accomplish. However, I
think that it's going to be harder than ever to
keep doing that because there's going to be I don't
want to use the word attacks, but there's going to
be a feurer from all sides, investors, voters, consumers trying
to figure out how does this impact me and what
am I going to do? So I think the messaging
(07:47):
is going to have to stay on point if they
want to try to keep the trust of the voters,
and I think consumers, voters, you know, representatives, investors, you know,
if they want some change to what this potential policy
is going to mean, they're going to have to stay
on message too. I think, you know, just sort of
(08:08):
flailing around isn't going to help, you know, the market response.
I don't think it is going to be necessarily enough
if the administration is really, you know, is really committed
to doing what they're going to do despite whatever happens
to the investor class.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, well I tend to agree with that. I think
the messaging is very, very important because you have to
really hold hands.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
The interesting thing is, and this is what we learned
going back to COVID, is that things that were never
main street have become main street. And I'll give you
the example being that anyone who buys a product now
and has it sent to them, like from Amazon or
something like that. You know, everyone's become a little mini
corporation and you are your own logistics person. You have
your own little company, You've got your tracking number, you
(08:55):
know where the product is at any given time. You
can find out, generally speaking, where it is. And all
of a sudden logistics supply chain, you know, manufacturing on shoring,
you know, near showing. That became interestingly so main street
people are into that. They understood it. You know where
where where's the you know the case of bouncy that
(09:15):
I bought, you know where's it going? And you find
out where it is? So main street right now needs
to have I think a very very strong message. And
otherwise what's going to happen is that whoever's the loudest
person talking in the room is the one that you're
going to be listening to. You know, It's sort of
like in the American President movie, Michael J. Fox was
(09:38):
talking to the president, who's Michael Douglas and he's and
he wants the president to say something about what's happening
with whatever it is they're talking about that's important for
the re election and uh, and the point of the
matter is Michael Douglas was reluctant to get involved in
the brew haha with the other the other the you know,
the guy he's up against the in the election, and
(09:58):
and Fox says, listen, let me tell you. The point
of the matter is, these people are so starved for
the truth. They're so starved to hear something from somebody that,
you know, they will drink sand in the desert, you know,
thinking that it's water. And the truth of the matter
is people will listen to whomever they listen to the most,
the most often, the loudest and so forth, the most vociferous,
(10:20):
the most emotional, and they're going to come away with
an idea. And therefore, your right, Steve, and I think
we really got to be on target for this. So
what do you think that we should really be saying? What?
What do you think the administration, those in the Senate,
those in the Congress really need to be saying to,
you know, say, all will be well.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Well. I think that I'm not sure if the message
can really be all will be well. I think that
you can say in certain you know, a certain number
of years, you know, if all goes to plan, if
we get trade concessions. If we get less currency manipulation,
you know from from certain countries, we may get restoring,
but we're also going to get higher prices. You can't
(11:05):
get restoring and in more manufacturing in the US without
prices rising, and I think that's a reality. So the
truth is that prices will go up. That may benefit
some segments of the population, but is also going to
mean that a large part of the population is going
to have to pay more for certain goods if these
stand as they are set out today. And I think
(11:27):
one thing we also know is that the administration is negotiating.
This is there's no finality to this. In my opinion,
that they are negotiating. They're hoping for concession. They want
countries to come to the table so that they can
make better deals, and maybe that puts the US in
a better position. Hopefully it does. I certainly hope that
we end up at a better position in the future
(11:47):
than we are today. But we're going to go through
some turmoil, and I think the administration needs to be
honest about the fact that consumers and investors are going
to need to be extremely patient and trustful. Whether they
can maintain that is yet to be seen.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Okay, well, we're gonna, you know up, Steven, we're gonna
we're gonna take a quick break. We're gonna make a
couple of bucks for the affiliates around the country, and
then we're gonna be right back with Stephen Kates, who's
financial analyst with bankrate dot com. We're talking about tarifs.
We're gonna find out what's gonna be left in your pocket,
maybe even at the end of this week. We'll be
right back. Don't go anywhere. Okay, Welcome back to MAIDI
(12:36):
in America. This is Rich Roflin speaking your host for
maid in America right here on the phone right now
with Stephen Kates. Steven's a financial analyst with bankrate dot com.
We're talking about tariffs. We're actually talking about where your
money's going and how you're gonna be able to you know,
get products and when you go to home depot next
week and a thing is gonna be more expensive, probably
to a degree. But uh, Steven, let me this is
(12:57):
very interesting. You touched on something in the last and
that is that you know, Trump unveiled these new rates
which was calculated not just from tariffs. You know, he
created a chart which we could discuss very briefly. You know,
one side is what they do to us, and the
other side is of what we're gonna do to them,
so to speak. But he calculated the tariff from other
(13:18):
nations imposed in US. But he also included, which is
kind of interesting, currency manipulation hello China, and other trade
barriers such as, for example, in Japan. If Harley Davidson
sends you know, motorcycles, which they do into Japan because
it's a known global brand, those motorcycles interestingly have to
(13:39):
be broken down and reassembled in Japan. Now that's not
necessarily a tariff, but it certainly causes an increase in
the price, which is the effect of a tariff anyway.
So there's all sorts of things that go on. I
guess Steven, that transcend just a terror by definition of
a terraf. So I find it, maybe you do too interesting,
(14:01):
And this is pretty convoluted. How to calculate all this stuff?
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (14:06):
It's extremely complicated? You know, I don't think that there's
you know, any any good way for you know, the
average person to probably try to reverse engineer that what
appears to be the case with the manner with which
the administration sort of applied these reciprocal tariffs is they
took the difference between what is exported to us from
(14:31):
a given country and what our trade deficit is with that,
divided them and came out with a percentage that, as
Trump mentioned, he said, and then we have and cut
that into And so if you look at China, for instance,
and you take what they export to us and what
(14:51):
the trade deficit is and you divide those in have
you get sixty four percent, which the Trump as administration
then cut in half to thirty four percent. So that's
the way that they calculated those numbers, which is a
bit of a rough and ready way to sort of
get to some of this and doesn't take the nitty
gritty itemized details of trade barriers, non trade barriers, currency,
(15:17):
which is going to be incredibly complicated to do. So
in a manner of speaking, they kind of cut to
the chase and said, this is what we've decided is appropriate.
I don't necessarily think that that probably is fully accurate,
but it's what has happened, and that's what we're dealing with.
(15:37):
And I think that regardless of putting tariffs on countries,
certain countries like Vietnam, it's just announced that they're coming
to the table, and yeah, yeah, you know, and I
think countries like that, you know, will have to come
to the table. I mean to me, I think two things,
you know, when you think just about Vietnam as an example. One,
(16:00):
there is no way that they could have a balance
trade with us. We are a richer country, We are
a far larger country. There is no way that we
could be importing as much to them as they import
to us. The idea that Vietnam or Cambodia is getting
rich off the back of Americans is preposterous. They're just
(16:20):
a much poorer country and they supply a lot of
goods that we utilize at a high rate, like apparel.
You know, costs on apparel they can't afford to eat,
and consumers here don't want to pay. I think ultimately
their economies need us, and therefore they have to come
(16:42):
to the table.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Well, I think you're right. You know, Kudlow said this
a long long time ago when they were starting to
bring up the idea of taris. This is going back
quite a few actually before he did the inauguration, and
he saw it as you just aptly described as a tool.
You know, it is a tool to get what you want,
to leverage the other person to do what you want.
(17:05):
And I don't think it's a bad thing. I mean,
you look out there, you know. I remember my sister
lived in Brazil for many, many years. She married a
Brazilian doctor. How cliche is that, and American products going
into Brazil were tapped for almost one hundred percent at
the time if you bought afford made in the United
(17:25):
States that was exported down to Brazil. I'm making this up.
A ten thousand dollars forward became a twenty thousand dollars forward.
It was just ridiculously expensive. So those things exist around
the world, and I think I don't think it's a
bad thing to address it. I really don't. And I
got to tell you something, when Leiightheiser makes a comment,
I have to think he's enormously bright, and he does
(17:47):
a remarkably good job in terms of looking out you know,
as a US trade rep doing good things for US.
So I kind of take that pretty seriously when he
thinks it's a pretty good idea that time is kind
of Trump has every right to do that, and I
think he does. The question is the volatility? It would
agree the volatility. So looking out from that, I'm going
(18:08):
to ask you a put on your We have about
two minutes left. Your financial planner had now a people
out there and they're listening. They're saying, well, my god,
you know what do I do? Where do I go?
What are you going to say to these guys as
a financial planner?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
So I want to I want to break up my
message to two different groups. One people who are not
retiring in the near term, so we're thinking multiple years,
multiple decades from now. This is simply one of the
volatile times that you're going to live through in your life.
There's going to be many There have been more in
the past, there will be many more in the future.
(18:43):
You need to maintain a plan. If you don't have
a plan, now's not a great time to build one.
It's a better time to do it, though, than waiting
till later. So have a financial plan. If you don't
know how to build one, Taco financial advisor, but get
some something on paper so that you can go back
to it, look at this and say these are my goals,
this is my plan. These are the policies that I'm
(19:06):
going to follow to accomplish my goals.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Well, there you have it. There's sage advice, Steven. If
people want to get a hold of you, is there
a way for them to do that communicate with you?
Speaker 1 (19:18):
So i'd plug bankrate dot com. We're covering all of
these details as well as basically anything to do with
personal finance, from mortgages to credit cards to investing. You
can certainly look me up on LinkedIn or on X.
I've certainly got a deeper bench of content on LinkedIn
that I have had on X. But those are places
that you're going to hear from me and see some
(19:38):
of the things I have to say.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Well, that's terrific, Steve. I want to thank you so
much of being I Made in America. Stephen Kates, financial
analyst with bankrate dot Com. We're going to be right
back with more show, more information, and maybe a couple
of things that will say to you a couple of
bucks along the way. We'll be right back to Maid
in America.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Promoting American industry. This is Made in America with Rich Rothman.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Welcome back to Made in America. Delighted to be with
you today. I had a great conversation with Stephen Kage
from bank Great dot com. You know, we were talking
about tariffs and the effect that's having on folks both
emotionally and physically in the real world, and you know
what the truth is, and somewhere in between is the
reality of what's going to happen. A lot of bad
(20:34):
news goes out there, and I would presume those who
are not in favor of Trump, the globalists, for example,
are going to do everything they can to thwart this
ability to do something anything for that matter, that you
know the Trump administration wants to do. There's no question
about that. And I would knock doubt for a second
that any of the mainstream media, the alphabets, you know,
(20:55):
channels such as ABC, NBCCBS, MSNBC, CNN and all those
other guys, they'll do anything they can to accentuate the
negative and there is no positive. It doesn't exist because
we all know that, you know, Trump is the biggest
threat to democracy in the world. So we understand all that.
That's what they espouse every day, except now they're going
to be doing and working with those on Wall Street.
(21:17):
And I have to say, I think to a degree,
Wall Street, we all know Wall Street is very finicky anyway,
and minor little things will set somebody off. So I
don't know. Maybe if Kentucky Fried Chicken runs out of Coslow,
that would affect the market. I have no idea anyway.
On the on the show with us right now is
Many Mencia. Many Mencia is in the state of Florida's
(21:38):
in Miami. Manny was the executive senior vice president for
Enterprise Florida, which is sort of like the Department of Commerce.
Is we called it different here in the state of Florida.
Many will explain that. So in in fact, Manny was
in charge of international business for the State of Florida
for five different governors. I'd like to welcome Manny Mencia
to Made in America.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Thank you, Rich a pleasure being here with you today.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Well, I'm really glad you're here, Manny. I just want
to get it straight so the folks out there really understand,
you know, what you did for so many years because
you were, you know, involved with the government five different administrations.
I think, did I get that right? Five different governors.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Yes. I served studying in the Lowton Child's administration and
finished after three years with fron dissenters. So I could
tell you know, I would say that I served you know,
governors from both parties and from a wide range of
political orientation. I did it for twenty five years. I
(22:43):
was hired in Night at the end of nineteen ninety
six to begin to create a new international problem for
the State of Florida. The Florida had one you know,
managed by the Florida Department of Commerce. What I worked
for a few years, but by closing the Department of
(23:04):
Commerce and creating what became the first of the private
dot for profit economic development models in the United States,
Enterprise Florida, we wanted to go in a different direction
and create a new program with how would you call it,
with new targets and new products and so on and
(23:26):
so forth. One of the first things that I did
Rich is I inherited the six Foreign Office Network offices
in team markets around the world like London and Tokyo.
The challenge there was that we essentially had sent Florida
State employees to these markets, drawing State of Florida level silaries, which,
(23:48):
as you know, don't get you too far either in
Tokyo or London. So that one of the first things
that I did is basically recalled those positions and we
launched the new program based on performance based contracts two
companies that were already establishing that market, and that proved
to be extremely successful. By the time I left Enterprise
(24:11):
for that network had grown to I believe it was
eighteen officers.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
So this is they went to that in the second So, Manny,
so you work with five different governors, both on the
left and the right, you know, Democrat and Republican. They
all did a pretty good job, and you did a
spectacular job because you had a really good twenty five
year run. So what I want to figure out, Manny,
and this is going to go back what you were
just talking about, how you set this system right thround
(24:38):
the world. Something there's something very special about Florida. You know,
it's sort of like there's something very special in Illinois.
There's something in the DNA. And they have a lot
of corruption. You know, we don't have that as much,
but they have, you know, a lot of their their
they're elected officials, got indicted up there. So people would
always say, well, you know it's in the water, it's
(24:59):
in their DNA. What is it?
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Minnie?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
That's so special because here we're looking at made in America.
We're looking for people to produce products in the United
States and do innovation in R and D and manufacturing.
So why is it, Minnie that Florida is so much
in play right now, particularly with the concept of bring
it back home. Do it here. Let's attract foreign direct investment.
(25:24):
That's something that Trump is trying to do really hard.
What is We're very special, aren't we?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Oh, no question about it, no question about it. That
was one of the key how you call it reasons
for everything that we did is we believe that even
back then that Florida had all the ingredients necessary for
explosive growth. Let's begin with the most obvious geography. I've
(25:54):
always believed that geography is destiny. Okay, are your location
is the source of much of what will happen to
your to your state, or to your region, et cetera.
And Florida has one of the most privileged locations in
(26:14):
the world with it in the midst of the you know,
the epicenter of the Western hemisphere, ideally located also for
each west trade, not only north south. We are blessed
also with a tremendous international infrastructure. For example, here in
(26:34):
South Florida, we're both based. You have Miami International Airport
number two in terms of international passengers in the US,
number one in international freight. So this is a tremendous asset,
as are two seaports within thirty miles of another of
one another Port of Miami and Port Everglas, So an
(26:56):
excellent you know road network, all kinds of you know
of of blessings like that from the infrastructural site. And
then as the third component with is the you know,
the human component. We have a a highly qualified, extremely
(27:16):
diverse population in in in Florida with uh uh, a
plethora of language opportunity of of cultural awareness and as
important or more excellent contacts in markets around the world.
At a fourth UH A fourth led to the school
(27:38):
are our knowledge based and international services uh uh how
do you call it? Network? Are uh? We have one
of the largest concentrations of international service providers UH in
the United States. UH. And if you were to focus
(28:00):
on it's UH concentration and it's it's affinity to Latin America,
I would say there's not a place in the world
where you have the concentration of expertise in doing business
in the Americas as you do in South Florida and
in Florida State.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Well, yeah, no, we're a very unique place. But I
want to go back to the governmental side for a second,
and we're a very business friendly state. You know, they
call us a free state, and I think that came
out even more during the COVID because we were a
free state. We didn't go along with all the shutdowns
(28:41):
that other states did and completely destroy themselves. We didn't
do that. But we are a very very pro business state.
One of the things is, you know, we don't have
a corporate tax the way the way other states do.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yes, yes, absolutely, that's a huge advantage when recruited companies
UH to Florida, which, by the way, as you know,
we've been extremely successful over the last few years. UH.
I would like to get to go to to claim
credit for it, but a lot of good things have
happened since I left Enterprise Florida around three years ago. UH.
(29:19):
We look going back to what you said, government has
been a positive agent in the last decades for the
expansion of UH of Florida into one of the great
business centers of UH of the United States, and by
the way, Uh, Florida's ranks along with Texas, has the
(29:40):
two best business climates in the United States. That's a
terrific uh calling cards for us when we go out
looking for business, et cetera. And then we can deploy
all the other advantages like you mentioned, no personal income
tax uh uh so many other things that uh, you know, law, tax, law,
tax rates, so many things that we can then deploy
(30:03):
to help companies, comitans succeed in the state of Florida.
Another thing that makes us very unique, Richard, is small business.
Florida is a small business universe. We create more small
businesses that probably any state in the United States. In fact,
the overwhelming majority of our exports are done by small businesses.
(30:24):
By the way, that's unique in the United States. And
in most of the United States you have some you know,
heavy hitters, you know, going in instead of Washington, you
have you know, the Caterpillar, so that you have companies
that dominate different states. In Florida, it's a team effort.
We have something like fifty thousand exporters that export about
(30:50):
sixty percent of everything our state produces. Compare that to
about thirty one percent between thirty one and thirty three
percent at the national level. So if another component, believe
it or not. Back in my day, when I was
working at the Miami Bacon Council at the Florida Department
of Commerce, education was a minus for us. People bemoaned,
(31:17):
you know that we were not the best state to
educate children today Florida.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, we wanted the United States major in basket weaving
down here. That's what they used to say a long
long time ago. That doesn't happen anymore. We're remarkable state.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yeah, we we have. We are rated the best K
to twelve public school system in the United States. Our
universities have gone from being as you say, you know,
you know sometime new et cetera, et cetera, too, extremely
successful with some of the best programs in the United States.
For example, Florida International Education flord International University are are
(32:00):
our local university now ranks among the best state universities
in the United States, as do all the universities in Florida.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
No, it's a remarkable place. But what I'm interested in, Mannie,
and we know this being down here. With the the
advent of near shoring, on shoring manufacturing close to the home,
supply chain problems and logistics. You know, we we have
(32:31):
a very deep concern and there's a lot of competition
amongst countries at Columbia, Dominican Republic, and others that are
close by within hours of the United States, particularly Miami,
and of course Miami being the geopolitical sphere and influence
of all of this, because as you just aptly pointed out,
(32:52):
you know, we're close to the United States, we're sticking
out into the Caribbean, We're close to Central South America.
We have direct access to different parts of the world,
and we certainly you know, you can get there from here,
you know, to multiple places around the world better than
most other airports. We have the best technology at airports
and ports. I mean, we're really a unique place. So
(33:13):
it would seem to me that as we move forward
with this administration and making things in America, you know,
we're in the right place at the right time to
really emphasize what's happening. And I think, Manny, when we
look out there and see all the fortune five hundreds
and companies that have moved here in the last two
years two and a half years, and all the new
(33:35):
buildings that are going up my got it looks like
Beijing back in two thousand and three, two thousand and four,
and you had all these cranes. Half the cranes of
the world were in red China in China, and they
were building buildings there. So you know, we seem to
be exactly in the right place right now. So having
said that, Manny, you know, it looks like agree or disagree,
(33:56):
we happen to be a really good selection. Uh. If
we're going to go and work with this administration, this
seems like the state to do it in.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Oh, no question about it. Uh, no question about it.
We have an extraordinarily positive business climate and a if
I may say so myself, an effective leadership supported by
a state government that is uh totally pro business. UH.
A local government which is likewise very mindful of what
(34:30):
they need to do in order to keep U the
tap open. Another thing that has gone very right for
us is, uh our I is that are management of
the pandemic here in Florida. Our ability to reopen early
enough was a huge catalyst.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
We did. We did, Manny, We did a really really
good job on that. All right, I'm gonna ask you
to hold that thought for a minute. Because we have
to take a break and make a few dollars for
the affiliates and the show itself. We're gonna be right
back with Many Mencia. This is made in America. Don't
go anywhere. We've got a lot more show for you.
(35:16):
We'll go back to Nadia America. This is Rich Rothman,
your host, delighted to have you here today. We're on
the show right now with Many Men Sea. Many for
twenty five years ran the basically international business with the
State of Florida at Enterprise Florida or a remarkable job.
He worked for five different governors, five different administrations, both
Democratic and Republican Conservative, did a remarkable job and is
(35:39):
one of the most knowledgeable international businessmen in Florida and
around the world. He's his influence extends into his Central
South America, but he also has worked with all these
different leaders and governors throughout the world, whether it's in China, Israel,
or it's the UK, or it's you know, India and
so forth. We're a remarkable place to be. Many we're
(36:01):
talking about the uniqueness of for Florida that we're in
a very very wonderful place to be. And let's flash
forward a little bit to the twenty first century, because
you've been around for a while and you were very
influential in developing new socioeconomics and new types of business
and development for the state of Florida with aerospace and
you know, technology things like that. And in fact, there's
(36:24):
a show coming up at the World Trade Center fairly
soon regarding that, Manny, When you look out into the
future for Florida, you know, what sort of products and
services do you see us coming up with that we're
really looking forward to developing. Now.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Well, I see Florida continue to be a very highly
diversified state, were traditional industries like tourism, construction, agriculture continue
to thro i've but alongside other sectors like a very
(37:06):
uh uh robust and rapidly expanding technology sector uh in
things like aviation aerospace, where by the way, Florida and
defense were Florida ala. These ranks number two in the
United States among the states UH. Information technology, where we
(37:27):
rank I believe number four UH and life sciences, for
Florida is a powerhouse in both pharma and medical devices
and all the other aspects of medical services and products.
Florida has the second largest concentration of medical companies and
(37:48):
businesses in the United States. So so we have a
very robust, trapped how do you call it, uh, robust
and rapidly expanding closter all of these industries that will
serve us.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
I believe in the future you're going to see things
like AI and so on continue to grow. Uh. You know,
this is by the way, been in the DNA of
Florida and Miami for for many, many years. We just
have failed to uh to to to to take advantage
and capitalize on it until until the until the last
(38:25):
decades of the twentieth century and into the twenty first century.
But we've always we've always been there, you know. It's
I always remind people when they when I talk about
Florida's technology that Florida is not only the birthplace of
the United States Space Program, but also of commercial aviation, which,
as you know, began here in Miami at at dinner
(38:47):
keep with the Panama Clippers.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Well, actually the right Brothers through planes down here very
very early in One of the first passenger terminals in
the entire United States was right here in Miami. So
we've always been interested in aviation going back to the
early nineteen hundreds, believe it or not, so it's been
a unique place. Many I got to ask you a
question and we were discussing this, and it's about the
(39:12):
tariffs that are, you know, hitting the countries right now.
I'd like to get your thoughts. Since you were the
leader for international in the state of Florida, I think
your point of view and your perspective would be very
interesting to listen to. Good bad, are indifferent? Now? What
are your thoughts? What are your thoughts as you know,
a person went out to other countries with governors and
(39:36):
presidents and so forth. How do you feel about this?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
This?
Speaker 2 (39:39):
I mean, and I'm not casting dispersions in any way whatsoever,
because I'm not totally against the tariffs. I'm not at all.
I think there's a purpose for it. And you know,
Many Robert Leithheiser, who we've met before down here, you know,
the US Trade Rep is in favor of what's going
on right now, and he's a pretty smart guy. He
really understands trade. Curious, what's your point of view on that?
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Well? Speaking as a historically pro open trade, freer trade
type international executives, I do believe the United States has
placed itself into a different difficult competitive position at this point.
(40:24):
While yes, we all want to encourage more and easier
flow of merchandise between countries, etc. Unfortunately the United States
put itself in a position where it allows many of
our fundamental industries to basically be taken away by cheaper
(40:48):
competitions that protected their markets against our products, yet was
able to access our market in an unfederal manner. I
think you have to have some type of of of
fairness in the competition, and I believe that's what the
administration is trying to do. I also, frankly, you know,
(41:12):
having read the art of the deal, believe that President
Trump UH sees this as the first salboid in a
negotiation which I believe I would hope would result into
the in the reduction of terrorists by our trading partners
around the world, at which time Trump will reduce our
(41:35):
own tariffs to UH to a much lower amount. And
it just doesn't make sense when you have, for example,
not to pick on them because they're a great trading
partner in the charging sixty four percent UH average tariffs
of US products, and we charge them we less five
percent the products that come from their country. We have
(41:57):
that that uh you know that with so many of
the major trading countries in the world.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Okay, well, I just find it very very inter I mean,
we are charged tariffs. We do have problem getting product
around the world in many many countries, you know, and
I think it's time to even the playing field. All right, Hey, listen,
delightful that you were here today to join us. Made
in America. Terrific show. Really enjoyed Stephen Kates talking about,
(42:27):
you know, tariffs and so forth. Many Mencia just the
number one person in the state of Florida and certainly
around the world to bring business into the state of Florida,
has a great, great vision as to make things successful.
And we'll see you next week. Don't go anywhere, We're
gonna be right here.
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