Hillary Clinton promotes American jobs

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will kick off the next phase in her recent initiative to mobilize the State Department and U.S. diplomatic corps to promote American jobs. On Tuesday, Clinton will address some 200 U.S. company executives at a two-day global business conference hosted by the State Department.

"It's clear there's a yearning and appetite to use the State Department even more aggressively than we've used it in the past to help promote American jobs," Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides told journalists in a phone call Friday previewing the Global Business Conference.

In attendance will be executives from some 200 U.S. companies working in 120 countries. Boeing CEO James McNerny will be there along with executives from Cargill, Estee Lauder and Qualcomm. Vice President Joe Biden will also make an appearance.

"Every agency in this government needs to be focused on job creation," Nides said. "And the State Department is uniquely positioned to do that because of our footprint, because of our expertise, because of the people on the ground."

Clinton originally laid out her vision for "economic statecraft" in a speech in October. The address called on American diplomats to make advancing U.S. economic interests a central mission of the U.S. foreign policy agenda. Aides say Clinton sees her "doctrine on economic statecraft" as a key legacy of her tenure as Secretary of State.

And promoting U.S. jobs certainly wouldn't hurt her resume should she pursue the position of World Bank president. Current World Bank president Robert Zoellick last week announced his plans to retire in June. Clinton along with former White House economic advisor Larry Summers have been rumored to be potential successors. But, Clinton aides insist they don't see any signs of that.

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