Pax Silica: Inside the Trump Administration’s Tech Strategy with US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg

We're not gonna do government operated supply chains because that's not how we shine as a country. Our superpower is really our private sector and our companies. The old Steve Jobs quote that American products enchant and delight users around the world by the billions. That is really is our edge as a country. And so the answer's been trying to work in lockstep with our private companies and our builders to build platforms that are commercially viable and that can ultimately live outside of the government as a private service.

The Danno Prize were joined by Jacob Helberg, the Undersecretary of state for economic affairs. We spoke with Jacob before he was confirmed in this role, we're very excited to have him back to discuss, Pax Silica, which is a multinational effort to secure the AI supply chain for The United States and its allies.

Jacob, thanks so much for being here.

Yeah. Thanks for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

So let's get right into it. Three months ago, you announced Paxilica, a super ambitious coalition. Can you explain what it is and where you are in it?

Yeah, absolutely. So I gave a speech at the Hudson Institute that was really meant to be our blueprint for Paxilica. Paxilica is an economic security coalition that now has 14 countries. And the idea is really to have an ecosystems based approach to our supply chains, and specifically the AI supply chain. And in my speech at Hudson, I outlined our different lines of efforts, including our policy roadmaps and our projects. And about a week and a half ago, we basically did the first big, what would be the tech equivalent of a product rollout where we announced a forward deployed industrial base

as a special economic zone in The Philippines? Or could you tell us more about the details beyond sort of the legal side that you mentioned?

Yeah, absolutely. So right now, there are two phases to the plan. The first phase is the State Department taking into custody the zone. We are referring to it as an economic security zone because it is a very unique type of arrangement. The State Department has authorities to take in land and property into custody, sort of how foreign governments gift the State Department counselors and consulates and embassies. It's very unique to do a gift of 4,000 acres. But fortunately, there's no statutory limits on how big or small property can be. And so that's phase one. So right now, it's actually dip