SAN ANTONIO, Texas — San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is pitching her city as the ideal landing spot for massive foreign direct investment coming out of Asia, but warned that policy uncertainty in Washington could jeopardize major economic wins for Texas.
Speaking at the 2026 NADBank Summit hosted in San Antonio, Ortiz Jones revealed that city officials recently hosted a high-level delegation from Taiwan. San Antonio is actively competing to capture a share of $200 billion in committed Taiwanese investment in the United States, along with an additional $50 billion in defense-related spending.
However, the mayor told border infrastructure leaders, international officials, and economic developers that short-term federal signals and trade friction threaten to pause momentum just as global firms look to expand state-side.
“They are looking to invest billions of dollars, but no one's going to do that if you only have certainty for 12 months or for 18 months,” Ortiz Jones said, referencing ongoing anxieties surrounding the future of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
The mayor noted that following the meeting with Taiwanese representatives, she led a delegation to Washington, D.C., to press federal leaders on the critical role cross-border trade stability plays in securing foreign capital.
“USMCA is much more than just an agreement between three countries,” Ortiz Jones emphasized. “It speaks to the certainty and the stability that this foreign investment—which we so desperately need right now—relies on. All of those [mixed signals] just halt or pause or, frankly, give a second question about whether now is the time to invest.”
To pull global investments into Military City USA, Ortiz Jones highlighted San Antonio’s geographical advantages—sitting at the crucial intersection of Interstate 10 and Interstate 35—and its expanding tech footprint.
Earlier this year, the mayor established the city’s Economic Security Advisory Group to focus on emerging sectors where San Antonio holds distinct national leverage, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology, space manufacturing, and cybersecurity.
“We have the second largest cyber presence outside of Washington, D.C.,” Ortiz Jones noted. “And if you're familiar with that industry, you know that there is no cybersecurity without the technology that enables that from space. So, if you can build the Tundra, you can build a little widget that's going to go into space and make sure that those rockets and that infrastructure is what it is.”
During trade talks, Ortiz Jones said Taiwanese officials zeroed in on two core requirements: resilient physical infrastructure and a deep talent pipeline.
Ortiz Jones pointed to San Antonio’s 30-year partnership with the North American Development Bank (NADBank)—headquartered in the city—as a cornerstone of its infrastructure strategy. Since its inception, NADBank has financed over 300 projects leveraging more than $12 billion in total investment across the U.S.-Mexico border region.
However, scaling modern infrastructure—from sustainable water delivery to energy grid capacity required by AI and advanced manufacturing—requires strong state-level cooperation.
Recalling a recent panel alongside mayors from McAllen, Austin, and Plano, Ortiz Jones stressed that Texas municipal leaders cannot build the infrastructure of tomorrow without support from Austin lawmakers.
“A key partner for us also has to be the state, as we're thinking about our ability to finance these projects that relies on our ability to raise money to do that,” Ortiz Jones said. “I would, as you are having your conversations... think about the critical way in which state leadership can either help or hinder the exact infrastructure developments that you all are talking about that are critical for the state.”
Closing her address, the mayor urged NADBank stakeholders to join cities in carrying a unified message to federal policymakers regarding long-term market certainty, public health, and sustainable growth.
“I can't think of a more important voice to help carry that message than NADBank,” Ortiz Jones said.
