Two companies based in Asia are interested in expanding their operations to Montgomery County, according to County Executive Marc Elrich, who recently returned from an economic mission trip to China and Japan.
Council Vice President Will Jawando joined the trip, along with the county’s Director of Economic Development Special Projects Judy Costello.
Elrich was invited to be a keynote speaker at the annual China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference in Hangzhou.
“Strengthening our county’s global ties is important work if we want it to be considered a destination for companies looking to grow and expand [in the U.S.],” Elrich said. In addition to visiting Hangzhou, county leaders met with business prospects in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Shenzhen before traveling to Japan.
In China, the county signed memorandums of understanding with two organizations that committed to establishing a U.S. presence in Montgomery County: a biotech consumables manufacturer and an association of mold manufacturers. Mold manufacturers produce molds for industrial products, such as vehicle door panels.
“They are particularly interested in coming here because their supply line from China to the U.S. is long and it’s hard for them to provide service,” said Elrich. “And as the world grows more competitive, being here would be an advantage to support their customers here.”
Elrich previously visited China for economic development, but this was the first trip to Japan. In Japan, Elrich visited Osaka, Kanagawa, Kyoto and Tokyo, and met with business organizations that represent thousands of Japanese companies. He said Japan was interesting because people knew little about Montgomery County and it was an opportunity to link their interest with expanding Japanese biomedical work in the U.S. with the county.
President Donald Trump had visited Japan the day before Elrich and county leaders arrived.
“They told us openly that the Japanese government had ordered that Japanese companies begin making greater investments in the United States and that we were arriving in a very fortuitous moment,” said Elrich. “I confess we did not plan that, but it is actually good that we were there talking to them at a moment when they were realizing they’re going to need to be investing more, and we had an opportunity to make the case for why we would be a really good investment, particularly in certain sectors of the Japanese economy,” said Elrich.
This was the county executive’s sixth international economic mission. In total, he has visited China, Japan, India, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, he said during a media briefing on Wednesday.
Elrich said the cost of the trip and where the money came from will be shared during a separate briefing.
