Global competition has dominated foreign policy conversations for the past ten years, pushing topics like investment in American manufacturing, reliable supply chains, and protection of domestic technology advantage to the top of the priority list. Sadly, far less attention has been paid to the human capital that surrounds those top priorities — the leaders, the talent, and the relationships that will determine whether those investments actually stick.
For the United States to succeed in the next 50 years the way we’ve succeeded in the last 50, we will need a strong “supply chain” of leaders, institutions, and workforce systems who embrace American values, train in American methods, and connect to American networks.
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China understands this clearly.
AMERICA’S AI EDGE IS TRUST. CHINA IS BETTING WE’LL SQUANDER IT
That’s why Beijing is competing in classrooms and ministries across the developing world. China offers tens of thousands of scholarships annually and uses exchange, education, and training as strategic tools to shape the next generation of business leaders, policymakers, engineers, and technology professionals.
That is a playbook they stole from the United States. Imitation, yes; flattery, no. Rather, Beijing saw a relatively inexpensive toolkit that had turned the United States into a global superpower and decided it wanted to do the same. Not unlike the way China steals IP from American companies.
The good news is that America still has better tools and greater appeal.
The infrastructure already exists: American universities, businesses, exchange programs, civic institutions, and decades of trusted relationships built around the world. All that is needed is a clear strategy to leverage those assets in the places and with the people who will shape the rest of this century.
American exchange programs remain one of the best returns on investment in foreign policy. They introduce emerging global leaders to the United States, connect them to American businesses and institutions, and build relationships that continue long after the programs end. The entrepreneur who launches a company using American suppliers. The policymaker who understands how American markets work. The unicorn tech founder trained on U.S. systems and standards rather than Chinese ones. These outcomes are the clear result of America investing in the human capital that shapes supply chains.
At IREX, we see this every day. In the last five years alone, we have connected more than 100,000 emerging leaders with the United States and worked with alumni networks spanning more than 100 countries. The goal is to build networks that continue to generate commercial, institutional, and strategic value long after a program ends.
And the results are tangible. Through the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative, U.S. small and mid-sized businesses work directly with entrepreneurs across Latin America. One in four U.S. business participants has expanded into new markets or developed new products, and 87% report growth or innovation. Through the Young African Leaders Initiative, nearly 8,000 African alumni are using relationships built in the United States to launch businesses, expand commercial partnerships, and keep American institutions connected to the African markets where China and Russia are aggressively expanding influence.
Nowhere are the stakes clearer than with AI. Countries are making decisions today about who will train their teachers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and public institutions on the tech stack and tools. The country that trains another nation’s AI workforce will shape how that country thinks about enterprise, innovation, data, and technology for decades. If American universities and companies do not help shape those systems, Chinese standards and assumptions will fill the vacuum.
The same is true in South and Central America. A stronger workforce near our southern border reduces dependence on adversarial supply chains, creates better partners for American manufacturing, energy, agriculture, and logistics, and reinforces stability much closer to home. If U.S. institutions help build that workforce, our companies gain stronger near-shore partners.
Africa presents another test. With a population expected to double by 2050, and home to many of the critical minerals essential to advanced manufacturing, Africa will shape the supply chains and markets of tomorrow. China is investing accordingly. The United States should, too.
FIGHTING AMERICA, ARMING CHINA: THE WEST’S SUICIDAL TECH POLICY
None of this means building a new bureaucracy or spending without discipline. In fact, State Department exchange funding has remained roughly flat in nominal terms for nearly a decade. Nearly all of the money spent on these programs stays inside the United States, supporting American universities, workers, businesses, and communities across all 50 states.
The emerging leaders the United States engages today will become the trading partners and institutional allies of tomorrow. The ones we ignore will be shaped by someone else. American leadership has always required engagement, confidence, and competition. It still does.
Aleksander Dardeli is President and CEO of IREX, an organization that cultivates leaders, prepares young people for jobs, and improves learning through technology.
