Gov. J.B. Pritzker promoted Illinois as friendly to clean energy and a burgeoning technology hub during his weeklong visit to the United Kingdom in an effort to expand the state’s footprint in the international business world.
“Illinois really hasn’t been on the international scene for some number of years,” Pritzker said on a video conference call from the U.K. as he wrapped up his overseas trip. “We found our sea legs I would say, and now we’ve got lots of folks who are approaching us about getting together.”
Since winning a second term in November, Pritzker has prioritized courting businesses after high-profile corporate relocations last year by Boeing, Caterpillar and Citadel.
The Democratic governor made an official visit to he U.K. in 2021 and also has made trips to Davos, Switzerland and Germany. On this trip, he led a group of three dozen that included state officials such as Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and leaders in higher education, utilities and aviation.
“Broadly, our view is that people really don’t know enough about Illinois, and it’s important for us to convey the big selling points of why they ought to come to Illinois,” Pritzker said.
In addition to seeking overseas companies to boost Illinois’ electric vehicle industry, as well as its standing in manufacturing, financial services, food processing and hospitality, Pritzker said he met with leaders in the quantum computing field, adding that he has a vision of making Illinois the “Silicon Valley of quantum development.”
Pritzker said the goal of his trade missions is not only to attract new companies, but also to expand relationships with those who already do business with Illinois.
“We have over 850 U.K. companies that are already doing business in Illinois,” Pritzker said. “We have 90,000 employees, Illinoisans, who are employed by U.K.-owned companies in Illinois. So expanding that relationship is good for people in Illinois.”
In addition, “we’ve got a bunch of companies that do business in the U.K., as well as throughout Europe, that use U.K. as their kind of base to go into Europe,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker has a number of tools at his disposal to attract business, having won legislative approval for tweaks to the state’s EV manufacturing incentive program, as well as a $400 million deal-closing fund.
Competition with other states for EV-related business is fierce, with companies inevitably using other offers in an effort to sweeten their deal, he said.
“They’re always playing you off against another state trying to get more,” he said. “We have to make decisions about what we’re willing to offer. And importantly, you don’t know whether all the time they’re telling you exactly what the other state is really offering, right?”
Pritzker said legislative measures such as Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act are important to companies looking to do business with the state. Passed in 2021, the measure, among other things, set ambitious deadlines for shutting down coal-fired power plants by 2030, gas plants by 2045 and achieving carbon-free power by midcentury.
Pritzker’s office said both Illinois and U.K.-based companies “promise to expand the use of sustainable technologies and renewable energy to support economic growth and the creation of jobs.”
“They know that their customers expect them to be producing (products) using clean energy and that can’t be done, at least not enough of it, in those other states” without clean energy policies, Pritzker said. “So that’s a huge selling point.”
Pritzker said he foresees more overseas trips, including possibly to Mexico and South America. He said he’s been invited to visit Israel and that Asia would be another important destination.
“We have a great ambassador in the country of Japan representing the United States, who happens also to have an affinity for the city of Chicago,” Pritzker said, referring to former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is the U.S. ambassador to Japan.
Members of Pritzker’s staff joined Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, on a trip to Taiwan and South Korea last year, and one of the companies they met with, LG Chem, subsequently announced a joint venture with Chicago-based ADM, the governor’s office said.
“You don’t snap your fingers and these things happen. … We need to do more,” Pritzker said of his efforts to court businesses in the U.K. and elsewhere. “Illinois needs to do more on the international scene. So this is another step in that direction.”
Tribune reporter Dan Petrella contributed.
