Dilawar Syed

On March 3, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Syed to be the deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration.[1] He was renominated to the post on January 3, 2023.[11] Following the 2022 elections, Democrats secured a one-seat majority on the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and voted to advance his nomination on March 22, 2023.[12][13] This followed nearly two years of delaying attempts by Republican members of the committee.[14] In June 2021 his nomination had been favorably voted out of the Committee in a voice vote but the parliamentarian ruled a roll call vote was required.[15] Since then, Republican members repeatedly did not attend committee meetings denying the quorum needed to take a roll call vote on his nomination in the committee, which was at that point evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.[16] Republicans conditioned his roll call vote on the SBA taking action on loans Planned Parenthood affiliates received under the Trump Administration. Republicans suggested that Syed's Muslim faith and work with Emerge Action implied he might be anti-Israel, but Jewish and other religious and civil rights organizations defended Syed, and GOP senators discontinued this allegation.[16] On June 8, Syed was confirmed by the full Senate with bipartisan support.[17] He was sworn into office on July 10, 2023.[18]

Syed's nomination has been backed by more than 200[19] business, civil rights, and faith groups. In addition, he has been endorsed by the United States Chamber of Commerce.[20] As of July 2023 he is the highest ranking Muslim-American in the Biden administration.[14]

In February 2022, Syed was appointed as the special representative for commercial and business affairs in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the Department of State.[3] As Special Representative, he drives commercial diplomacy and advances trade, commercial, and economic policies for American companies and workers.[21]

Commercial and economic engagement

Syed drives commercial diplomacy at the State Department. His office's mission is to promote the U.S. private sector abroad and ensure there is "a level playing field for [US] companies to compete and win".[22] In 2022, he embarked on ten bilateral visits to promote U.S. commercial interests overseas.[22] In March 2022, Syed joined Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Senator Roy Blunt on a presidential delegation to commemorate U.S. National Day at the Expo 2020 Dubai.

In July 2022, Syed visited South Asia, touring India,[23] Pakistan,[24] and Bangladesh.[25] In India, he emphasized the potential of U.S.-India trade to ease global supply chain challenges, saying that "India can play a big role in plugging the gaps in emerging areas such as semiconductors, pharma, and renewable energy".[26]

In September 2022, Syed co-chaired economic dialogue between the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi.[27] This covered a breadth of topics including sanctions, Open RAN 5G technology, cybersecurity, the digital economy and interoperability, women’s economic empowerment, intellectual property, clean energy initiatives, food and water security, global health security, and health cooperation.[28]

In a November 2022 visit to Japan, Syed pushed for the "revival of the semiconductor industry" in Japan to help alleviate microchip supply chain challenges.[29]

In June 2023, Syed led the U.S.–Iraq Business Council delegation to Iraq, the first commercial delegation to the country since 2018.[30] Syed held meetings with Iraq's Prime Minister, several cabinet ministers, the Iraqi private sector.[30] The visit took place "amid growing interest from U.S. companies in doing business in Iraq" after Iraq passed its highest-ever national budget worth $150 billion, setting aside expenditure for infrastructure.[31] The delegation included companies in the construction, education, energy, finance, health, and technology sectors.[32]

Competition with global powers

Syed visited Portugal in May 2023 to promote U.S. commercial investments, particularly in Lithium processing. He challenged "reliance on untrusted Chinese state-owned companies for critical infrastructure [which] threatens our shared security and values, as well as undermines the free market".[33] Syed asked for the Portuguese to reconsider their commercial relationships with China, stating "[the U.S. wants] our friends in Portugal to make these decisions fully aware of the risks of working with the PRC".[33]

The same month, Syed visited West Africa. In Gabon, he said "Africa belongs to Africans, and not to any power"[34] and pushed for private investment from the U.S. in the country.[35] In Cabo Verde, he also pushed for American investments in digital infrastructure, the maritime industry, and energy.[36]