WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration has announced William Hagerty, a businessman with extensive experience with Japan, as its new ambassador in Tokyo in a likely attempt to attract more investment and jobs from Japanese corporations.
Hagerty served as commissioner of economic development in his home state of Tennessee from 2011 to 2015, wooing overseas investors from Japan and elsewhere. The state ranked first in the U.S. for job creation in 2013, thanks in part to foreign investment. More than 160 Japanese companies, including Nissan Motor, now employ a total of 35,000 people in Tennessee.
