washington business
AWB President Kris Johnson chats with newly appointed Department of Commerce Director Joe Nguyễn at AWB’ s 2025 Legislative Day & Hill Climb.
How can the business community partner with Commerce to strengthen communities across the state?
We have some of the largest companies in the world here— Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon— and there are thousands of suppliers and small businesses that support them. These are mom-and-pop shops in our communities. We have this robust ecosystem, and it took a lot of hard work and effort to get there. I want to make sure that Commerce and the business community are working together. I want to highlight the great work that’ s already being done. I want to protect the industries we have, and I want to make sure that future businesses will have the tools and the workforce necessary to thrive because that means we all thrive.
joe nguyỄn at a glance
Trade is a strong driver for the state’ s economy. What advice do you have for Washington employers during this uncertain time?
First, stay calm. Change is happening at a very quick pace, and we’ re not sure what’ s next. At Commerce, we have resources to help folks diversify their businesses. We also have a small business resiliency network that offers resources to better support our industries. It will never be enough to fully mitigate a trade war, but if you need help, we’ re here to serve. In the grand scheme of things, I think this will be a blip in a much larger journey that we’ re all on when it comes to trade and economic development.
Washington has set an important and aspirational goal to double manufacturing by 2030. What can we do to meet that goal?
At the end of the day, you need more energy. We get a number of inbound questions from manufacturing facilities that want to locate here in Washington state, so the pipeline is more robust than most people would think. The problem is that manufacturing requires energy, so for us to unlock manufacturing, we have to unlock more energy, including clean energy. We also need more housing and more workers. Obviously, there are things that we can do from a tax policy perspective, but we need to have the core infrastructure for it to work.
Joe Nguyễn, 42, served for six years in the Washington State Senate before Gov. Bob Ferguson tapped him to lead the Department of Commerce. The first Vietnamese American elected to the Senate, he represented the 34th Legislative District, which includes West Seattle, Vashon Island, White Center and west Burien.
Nguyễn studied finance, economics and humanities at Seattle University, where he was student body president. He spent several years working in the tech industry in Seattle.
Nguyễn lives in West Seattle with his wife, Tallie, and their three children, Junie, 10; Ducky, 8; and Theo, 6. In his spare time he enjoys smoking meat and brainstorming business ideas with his daughter.
You listened to Eminem to get going in the morning as a state senator. What’ s currently on your playlist?
When you’ re in the Legislature, you have to hype yourself up. I have the opposite problem now: I want to calm down and focus. There’ s a playlist I like called“ Today’ s Easy Hits” with Alex Warren, Myles Smith and people like that. But I will admit I listen to the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack a lot. My kids are big fans.
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