Latvia President Edgars Rinkēvičs talks U.S. relationship in Orange County

About 300 people gathered for an invite-only event at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda to discuss ways that United States and Latvia business and civic leaders could expand the two countries’ economic ties.

Headlining the private dinner event on Thursday, Sept. 24, was the conversation between former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Edgars Rinkēvičs, president of the Republic of Latvia.

Rinkēvičs said over the past six months — when Lisa Argyros was appointed to her post as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia — ties between the two countries have already grown stronger. Argyros is from Orange County, a Chapman University graduate and the daughter of former Ambassador George Argyros.

Moving forward, Rinkēvičs said, he wants to see more “targeted investment” from U.S. companies into Latvia, particularly in the defense and film sectors.

Rinkēvičs said the country’s defense budget has grown significantly in recent years and will continue to grow. Latvia’s defense spending this year is equal to about 4.73% of its gross domestic product, among the highest levels in NATO. And the country’s parliament has set a statutory minimum to bring that spending to 5% of GDP beginning next year.

In June, the U.S. and Latvia signed a letter of intent to establish a joint drone acquisition program, which Latvia’s Ministry of Defense, in a social media post, said will accelerate drone supply chains and allow the country’s defense industry “to integrate directly into the U.S. military market.”

And as part of his U.S. trip this month, Rinkēvičs met with representatives of the U.S. defense firm Anduril Industries. They signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire long-range missiles from the company.

As for the film industry, the hope is to expand foreign investment following the recognition of Flow, a 2024 animated film that won the Oscar for animated feature and was nominated for best international feature. Ahead of his stop at the Nixon Library, Rinkēvičs met with executives at Warner Bros. to discuss ways to produce more co-funded projects on Latvian soil.

But the conversation around U.S.-Latvia ties took place against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war and the future of the European Union.

Rinkēvičs said from Latvia’s perspective, the biggest blow to authoritarian regimes like Russia would be if Ukraine wins, “in a sense that it stays an independent, democratic country.”

“If Ukraine wins, then the change in Russia is imminent. It may take another 10 or 20 years, nobody would imagine the Soviet Union would collapse so quickly under certain strain. The same could happen also for the regime in Russia,” he said. “But for Ukraine to win, they need our support on a daily basis.”

Support for Ukraine was one of the main reasons Latvia banned Russian natural gas imports in 2023, Rinkēvičs said. Since then, Latvia has begun shifting to importing U.S. natural gas and has signed deals with Lithuania and Finland to import more seaborne natural gas, more than a third of which already comes from the U.S., according to Politico.

As for the rest of the European continent, views on cooperating with the U.S. since President Donald Trump returned to office last year have become complicated, but countries in northeastern Europe “see the need to have strong cooperation with the United States,” Rinkēvičs said.

U.S. cooperation or not, European Union members need to work together, he said, not only in terms of further developing the economic and political ties amongst the member states, but also evolving it into a “kind of defense union” to protect countries that want to join the EU.

“Then comes the most difficult part: We still have countries that want to join us, (like) Ukraine, Moldova and (the western Balkan states),” Rinkēvičs said. “But we understand that if we don’t make political reform of the whole management structure, this is going to be hard.”

The half-hour chat between McCarthy and Rinkēvičs circled back to where it began. Responding to a question from McCarthy about what Latvia can provide that the U.S. doesn’t have already, Rinkēvičs said such conversations around trade and economic affairs should not be “about who is missing what.”

“I think there are some things that probably unite us. … We all cherish the same kind of ideals and values. I think that is something that we need to concentrate on,” he said. “This group is actually shrinking to some extent … if we have the same kind of understanding of values and interests, we need to stick together.”