Congressional ‘Ambassador Trips’
Connect Diplomats With Americans
by Sanjay Talwani
Twenty years ago, when U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley decided to invite ambassadors on a trip to his home state of Iowa, many of the diplomats were less than awestruck.
“We had to convince people in Washington, D.C., about Iowa and why to come to Iowa,” Grassley told The Washington Diplomat, adding a tongue-in-cheek explanation: “I had to convince them that the University of Idaho, Iowa City, Ohio, didn’t actually exist.”
Today, the powerful Republican is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, whose jurisdiction includes much of U.S. trade policy. And his five-day “Ambassadors’ Tour” to his heartland home—every other year for two decades—has grown to include diplomats and their spouses from about 70 countries, a group large enough to charter its own plane and fill three buses.
“Why would you go to Iowa? There’s only corn there,” said one diplomat to another, according to one of Grassley’s anecdotes. But after the trip, the diplomat was able to tell his colleague much more, discussing, for instance, the manufacturing operations of companies such as Maytag, Amana and John Deere, as wel
l as Iowa’s growing high-tech sector. “They come out here with a perception that Iowa’s only corn, but they go away with a perception of a very broad-based economy,” Grassley said.
The senator cited an agreement to sell grain to Colombia and a pending deal with Taiwan as some specific examples of international relationships that are benefiting his state. He has even better proof that the trips work for both the diplomats and for Iowans. First, he pointed to the growth of the trip, from a few dozen diplomats 20 years ago to the giant group today, making Iowa a known entity in Washington’s diplomatic circles. Second, local Iowa businesses pay the tab for the trips, which run into the tens of thousands of dollars. “I don’t think Iowa businesses would be donating that money if it wasn’t a good investment for them,” Grassley said.
But the real reward of the trip, for both sides, is at once more nebulous and far reaching than economic and trade issues, according to Grassley and the diplomats who joined him this past August. It’s the building of friendships and relationships between regular, old Iowa folk—and many of their business and political leaders—and diplomats from across the globe who may have thought little of Iowa, if at all. And those personal relationships, of course, can provide the foundation for creating commercial relationships.
“What we heard most often, was just the friendliness of people,” said Grassley. About 210 Iowa families host the diplomats as they travel to farms, factories, universities, an animal health center, the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, and even the Iowa State Fair.
For the Iowans, it’s a rare and valuable insight into a foreign nation. For the diplomats, it’s a candid visit in regular American homes with regular American families, something they don’t often get in the always-working environment of Washington.
“They’ll keep them [up] all night,” Grassley said of the host families’ interaction with their guests. “Sometimes our people don’t get enough sleep, so they sleep on the bus.”
Maher Matalka, director of the Economic and Commerce Bureau of the Embassy of Jordan, agreed with Grassley’s sentiments, calling the trip educational, enlightening, eye opening and more.
“I was really impressed by the people we met,” he told The Diplomat. “It was a wonderful experience.” The Iowans were “very warm, very hospitable, and opened up their doors.”
Matalka said he learned not only about large manufacturing companies working in Iowa, but also about the many small- and medium-size companies there—companies similar in size to many Jordanian firms, and thus a good recipe for potential joint ventures or other relationships. Similarly, he was able to promote Jordan to the Iowans as a gateway to the Middle Eastern market of some 300 million people.
Daniela Gitman, deputy chief of mission at the Romanian Embassy, was equally enthusiastic. “It was a wonderful trip,” she said. “We had the chance to get in contact with American families and learn about the real American life.”
In Iowa, she learned of local companies reaching out to the Romanian market and is following up on that, hoping to attract more investment. But she said the personal relationships—with host families and with local officials—were the greatest reward.
“They were so proud,” she said of Iowans. “They were Iowa’s greatest asset. I was really impressed with their hospitality…. It really showed us the importance of getting out of Washington.”
Gitman was also impressed by Grassley himself, who, along with his wife, comes along for the entire trip (which surprised many of the diplomats, Grassley said). Iowa summers are hot and dress is casual. The senator switched among the buses, and by the end, the diplomats felt almost like old friends of the lawmaker, according to people involved with the trip.
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