March 7, 2011

Washington, DC – Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) released the following statement regarding President Obama’s decision to nominate U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to be the U.S. Ambassador to China:

“I want to congratulate Gary Locke, a longtime friend and colleague, on his coming nomination to become the next U.S. Ambassador to China.  I am confident that Gary, the first Chinese-American governor in U.S. history, will do an outstanding job in this role – he has a tremendous amount of experience with China.  The decision is particularly good for Washington State as China is our state’s single largest trading partner – Washington State alone exported close to $10 billion in goods to China last year alone.  Washington-based firms like Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks and others export to China and these exports translate in to good-paying jobs.  As the former governor of Washington, I am sure that Gary will work to protect and strengthen this relationship.”    

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