U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker Travels to California to Discuss Startup Culture in Los Angeles, Tour LA Port

Secretary Pritzker began her trip by visiting the headquarters of The Honest Company, which produces more than 100 products across a wide range of consumer categories, including baby, personal care, and home care. At Honest, Secretary Pritzker hosted a roundtable with local entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to discuss how their companies have disrupted their respective industries and what challenges they currently face. Participants in the roundtable cited immigration reform, patent reform, and market access as areas in which the public and private sector should work together to make further progress. 

As America's Innovation Agency, the Department of Commerce is responsible for fostering an environment that supports the invention and commercialization of new products and technologies. Many of the Department's core responsibilities help create the essential infrastructure of opportunity for entrepreneurs - whether issuing patents that protect intellectual property, making investments in local economic development, collecting and disseminating data to inform better decision making, expanding access to broadband, or protecting a free and open internet.

During Secretary Pritzker's tenure, the Department of Commerce launched the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE), a group chaired by the Secretary of Commerce. This initiative brings together some of America's most recognized and successful entrepreneurs who use their experience and knowledge to mentor and inspire young people and early stage companies, not only across our own country but around the world.

Secretary Pritzker concluded her trip to California with a visit to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to hold the first in a series of regional roundtables at key ports around the United States. The Department of Commerce convened port stakeholders to explore how leading U.S. seaports are improving their ability to identify and resolve operational port and infrastructure inefficiencies that can slow trade and cause congestion. These regional roundtables aim to ensure that America’s seaports and their supply chains have the tools needed to strengthen U.S.competitiveness, reduce port congestion, boost international trade, and catalyze regional and national economic growth and job creation.