TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is out of the office this week. He and more than 80 state officials — including department heads and university presidents — said “ciao” to Italy for five days during a trade mission.
The goal was to strengthen business, education and research ties with a nation already among Florida’s top twenty trade partners, accounting for about $4.4 billion annually in bilateral commerce.
The agenda was packed with five stops in five days: Rome, Viareggio, Florence, Turin and Milan.
Among the highlights, DeSantis met with the Italian prime minister for about an hour. He reportedly pushed for more Italian business investment in the Sunshine State. The Republican helped broker an aeronautics research-sharing agreement with Italian universities. He announced the opening of a new international trade office in the country and is facilitating talks for a direct shipping connection between Italy, the Mediterranean and Jacksonville.
That’s not all. The Miami Herald reported DeSantis attended a private Andrea Bocelli concert with about 200 others. He saw Vatican City, the Ferrari HQ and more.
“We’ve got the really amazing opportunity to see so many different things,” DeSantis said during comments in Lombardy. “I was talking to a friend of mine who lives here, and he said that usually takes a year to do all those things. I know we're doing it in a week.”
Back at home, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis gave the governor props for the mission. The CFO said they can have wide-ranging impacts.
"Look, there's a star power that the governor of the state of Florida has,” Patronis said. “When he sits down with these different players that want to be in the Florida market, it’s exciting. It also creates a front-of-the-line access to getting the type of questions answered that helps make that decision to bring an Italian company to make a much larger investment in the Florida market.”
Patronis noted the trips are often a public or private partnership which can help ease taxpayer costs. Even so, DeSantis’ critics have frequently derided his trade missions as a waste of money for political gain. Friday was no different.
Florida Democrats Chairwoman Nikki Fried said in a statement: "I hope Ron's enjoying his taxpayer-funded Italian vacation while Trump picks every Florida Man but him for an appointment."
When DeSantis gets back stateside, he’ll have a lot of homework to catch up on. The Florida governor will have to schedule special elections to fill two U.S. House seats and figuring out who to tap to fill Sen. Marco Rubio’s seat, should he become the new U.S. Secretary of State under President-elect Donald Trump.
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