New Delhi, March 23 -- There is a paradox at the heart of the US economy. As the federal government imposes sweeping tariffs, signals hostility to multilateral trade and unnerves long-term investors with erratic policymaking, one state has emerged as the most reliable US address for global capital: California, the world's fourth-largest economy and America's second-largest exporting state with $188 billion in annual goods exports. In 2024, California's GDP grew by 6%, outpacing the US, China and Germany.

This is not a partisan provocation, but a statement grounded in hard data and direct experience: We built the institutional architecture that has made the state resilient in the face of federal policy volatility.

As governor and as the ...