Utah: A Crossroads to the World? Heck Yes.

It has been over two decades since I’ve called my hometown “home.” 

When my career and the entire sector in which I dedicated the lion’s share of my professional life to went “poof” within the first couple of months of 2025, I was forced to return home to a place that was both familiar and unrecognizable at the same time – unrecognizable in a good way. In a very, very good way.

Turns out, Utah had come a long way since I left. 

Yes, we – as a state – shed a lot of the false and negative narratives people had typically associated with our great state by virtue of welcoming the world to Salt Lake City for the 2002 WInter Olympic Games. However, Utah still very much felt like a small-town homecoming queen getting her 15 minutes of limelight on a New York City catwalk before becoming mama’s fallen angel and ignored once again.

When Worlds Collide

After joining the Peace Corps in 2002 after working for the Salt Lake Olympic games, new doors of opportunity opened themselves and led me down a path of working in developing countries on behalf of the United States and the American people to help underserved communities have greater opportunities to build a brighter future. 

While much of this work centered on improving humanitarian response and enhancing basic levels of healthcare and food security, we were also partnering with businesses to establish necessary foundations and policy environments that strengthen opportunities for trade and economic growth – helping countries move from aid to trade, as we liked to say.

Coming back to Utah has not been easy. I was initially dismayed at the prospect of being sequestered in a state of insularity and feeling cut off from the world – a world that I had dedicated my life to making a little bit more unified and better off, and one in which the United States played the role of a trusted leader.

So when I heard the words of Utah being “a crossroads to the world” while attending a conference on the importance of leveraging technology to accelerate national security and global diplomacy beyond the boundaries of government-to-government cooperation, my ears perked up.

Leadership and Global Vision

Jonathan Freedman from the World Trade Center in Utah and Darren Hughes from the Utah 2034 Olympic Games organizing committee opened the conference with a fascinating dialogue about Utah's role as a "crossroads to the world" -- both through the Games, but more importantly and perhaps more urgently, by continuing to build our state’s brand as a global economic hub and connecting Utah businesses with emerging markets around world.

Utah is home to local brands like NuSkin and Albion Laboratories, and has become a hub for global giants like Adobe, Microsoft, and Amazon – drawing significant investment and powering trade. In 2023, Utah companies exported over $17 billion in goods, ranking 28th in the nation for international exports and outperforming larger neighboring states. Moreover, these businesses support over 400,000 jobs across the state – showcasing a deep talent pool.

Overcoming Policy Obstacles to Accelerate Trade

With a global trade strategy based on diplomacy and promoting Utah businesses to attract foreign investment, 2025 has presented some challenges in terms of navigating the current and ever-shifting trade policy landscape put forth by the current Trump administration – namely, tariffs. 

Rather than let the ever-shifting sands dictate which direction Utah businesses might be led, Utah’s World Trade Center is taking a more proactive approach, making it easier for business leaders to better understand how tariffs impact their companies.

Establishing a foreign import-export trade zone in Salt Lake City is a major step forward. Having personally seen how these hubs of economic activity in other countries operate – most recently in Bangladesh, where the export processing zone streamlines customs and the country’s flow of ready-made garments to countries around the world, including the United States – the number-one buyer of Bangladeshi-made textiles.

Certified businesses operating in the import-export zone, under the supervision of U.S. Customs agents, can delay, reduce or eliminate import-export duties and tariffs they pay – softening the policy blow and empowering them to better dictate how they do business in any market across the globe.

On top of that, the World Trade Center offers an informational tariff dashboard and weekly updates to inform business leaders of new changes and updates to trade policy to stay on top of the game and maneuver the tariff minefield. 

As I learned of all of these efforts, I recalled the work we had done at USAID and U.S. Embassies’ trade and commerce colleagues to promote American brands in the countries in which I’ve worked over the past decade to remove barriers to trade and make it easier to do business with U.S.-based companies. 

Seeing these same initiatives on the homefront offer optimism and a dose of sanity in acknowledging the reality that global trade is still a backbone of American industry.

In the end, an America-first policy really is one that should reemphasize our country’s role as the preferred partner for trade, commerce and sustainable economic growth – creating more business-friendly environments at home and abroad, and creating conditions for American companies to thrive.

While it remains to be seen whether this administration’s policy results in that outcome, it is heartening to see groups like the World Trade Center in Utah, local government, and our business leaders come together to take the reins and lead by example – keeping our local businesses thriving and achieving their full potential.

Can Utah really be a crossroads to the world? Hell, I mean, “heck” yes!