Watch the full event
For US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, it’s “telling” that “Iran targeted a lot of commercial interests” in its attacks on the Gulf.
Landau spoke at an AC Front Page event on Thursday as part of the Freedom and Prosperity Center’s Global Prosperity Forum, which gathered policymakers, industry leaders, and scholars to explore global development solutions. In Gulf countries, Landau explained, “private enterprise . . . is what’s promoting stability,” so Iranian officials “regard those as military targets.”
He stated that the United States and Iran were in talks to clarify details about the cease-fire announced on Tuesday. But looking long term, he said, “it’d be amazing to think of an Iran that was not an enemy state but a state that would be welcoming private sector investment from the United States and other countries.” That, he said, “would change the world.”
That is the case because having strong commercial ties leads to “all kinds of good political and other ties between countries,” he argued, which is why “commercial and economic diplomacy” is a “key foundation of US foreign policy.”
“Promoting the prosperity of our country,” via commercial diplomacy, “can increase mutual prosperity,” he explained.
Below are other highlights from the conversation, moderated by Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe, during which Landau talked about the Department of State’s approach to commercial diplomacy and its role in US foreign policy.
The approach
- Landau explained that the commercial activity, under the Department of State’s approach, runs both ways: “A lot of companies around the world want to invest in the United States” because of its “rule of law” and “investment climate.” Their investment, he said, is “a win for us.”
- “Making our country more prosperous does not imply making other countries less prosperous,” Landau noted. “To the contrary, the whole point of the way that the free-market system works is that you find win-win situations that benefit both sides. This is not a zero-sum game.”
Nothing “wrong” with using US “leverage”
- Landau argued that the United States has been “under leveraging” its “influence for a long time.” He noted that in the past, the United States had devoted significant development funds to countries that “were then giving commercial contracts to China.”
- “If we’re going to give you one billion dollars for your healthcare sector,” he said, “maybe it would be appropriate for you to consider something that gives us something back in return.” He added: “We’re not going to be granting any privileges or benefits to any country that doesn’t grant them back to us.”
- Landau said he doesn’t see “anything wrong with using the leverage,” as long as it results in deals “that are in both sides’ interest.”
- Landau said that Global South countries have approached him, saying that they prefer the United States over China as a commercial partner, but that the US private sector isn’t “showing up,” while Chinese companies are. He said that the US private sector is more hesitant since Americans tend to “exaggerate some of the risks” involved in investing abroad.
- But at the same time, he said, the United States isn’t “telling people don’t trade with China,” since there are “natural reasons that China may be a market for some of these countries”—for example, commodities that US companies aren’t interested in. “I don’t think the United States has any problem with people doing business that makes sense for them,” he said.
A new “chapter” in US foreign policy
- Landau argued that the United States’ pivot of focus to the Western Hemisphere marks a return to “a more natural state of affairs.” That’s because “most countries” put “their own neighborhood first” in their foreign policies.
- “Increasing trade and engagement” with Latin America “improves the situation in these countries,” he explained. He pointed out “commercial opportunities” in Venezuela, which he described as “in a state of enormous flux.”
- The Washington establishment thinks that US foreign policy “consists of getting people to think well of us in London, Berlin, and Paris.” Landau said. But, he added, “I think that chapter is coming to a close.”
Katherine Golden is an associate director of editorial at the Atlantic Council.
Watch the event
Further reading
Wed, Apr 8, 2026
Making aid work in the new geopolitical era will be an uphill battle
Report By
Development aid requires local political commitment, careful project selection, and long-term focus, or it can worsen the problems it seeks to solve. When aid becomes a pawn of geopolitical competition, those conditions for effective aid become more elusive.
Wed, Apr 8, 2026
Ajay Banga on responding to this economic crisis: ‘Focus on policies’ that ‘create jobs’
Event Recap By Katherine Golden
At an AC Front Page event, Banga cautioned countries to "be careful" not to “put your country into an even bigger problem downstream" while responding to the Iran war.
Wed, Feb 4, 2026
Local and community-driven solutions for development in fragile states
Report By
This collaborative paper examines community-driven approaches to development from three unique perspectives and highlights the importance of putting local agency at the center of international development work.
Image: US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau speaks at the Atlantic Council on April 9, 2026.