{"id":475809,"date":"2026-09-25T22:56:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T22:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475809\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T22:56:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T22:56:35","slug":"latvia-president-edgars-rinkevics-talks-u-s-relationship-in-orange-county-pasadena-star-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475809\/","title":{"rendered":"Latvia President Edgars Rink\u0113vi\u010ds talks U.S. relationship in Orange County \u2013 Pasadena Star News"},"content":{"rendered":"

About 300 people gathered for an invite-only event at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum<\/a> in Yorba Linda<\/a> to discuss ways that United States and Latvia business and civic leaders could expand the two countries\u2019 economic ties.<\/p>\n

Headlining the private dinner event on Thursday, Sept. 24, was the conversation between former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Edgars Rink\u0113vi\u010ds, president of the Republic of Latvia.<\/p>\n

Rink\u0113vi\u010ds said over the past six months \u2014 when Lisa Argyros was appointed to her post as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, Rink\u0113vi\u010ds said, he wants to see more \u201ctargeted investment\u201d from U.S. companies into Latvia, particularly in the defense and film sectors.<\/p>\n

Rink\u0113vi\u010ds said the country\u2019s defense budget has grown significantly in recent years and will continue to grow. Latvia\u2019s defense spending this year is equal to about 4.73% of its gross domestic product, among the highest levels in NATO. And the country\u2019s parliament has set a statutory minimum to bring that spending to 5% of GDP beginning next year.<\/p>\n

In June, the U.S. and Latvia signed a letter of intent to establish a joint drone acquisition program, which Latvia\u2019s Ministry of Defense, in a social media post<\/a>, said will accelerate drone supply chains and allow the country\u2019s defense industry \u201cto integrate directly into the U.S. military market.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as part of his U.S. trip this month, Rink\u0113vi\u010ds met with representatives of the U.S. defense firm Anduril Industries<\/a>. They signed\u00a0a memorandum of understanding to acquire long-range missiles from the company<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> and was nominated for best international feature. Ahead of his stop at the Nixon\u00a0Library,\u00a0Rink\u0113vi\u010ds met with executives at Warner Bros.<\/a> to discuss ways to produce more co-funded projects\u00a0on Latvian soil.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Lisa<\/p>\n

Lisa Argyros, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia, speaks during a dinner, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Edgars<\/p>\n

Edgars Rink\u0113vi\u010ds, President of the Republic of Latvia, left, Lisa Argyros, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia, Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Jim Byron pose for photos at the end of a talk about the U.S.-Latvia partnership, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Edgars<\/p>\n

Edgars Rink\u0113vi\u010ds, President of the Republic of Latvia greats Lisa Argyros, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia, on stage at the end of a talk about the U.S.-Latvia partnership, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Edgars<\/p>\n

Edgars Rink\u0113vi\u010ds, President of the Republic of Latvia, left, and Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy shake hand at the end of their talk about the U.S.-Latvia partnership, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Audience<\/p>\n

Audience members listen to Edgars Rink\u0113vi\u010ds, President of the Republic of Latvia and Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, as they have a conversation about the U.S.-Latvia partnership, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Edgars<\/p>\n

Edgars Rink\u0113vi\u010ds, President of the Republic of Latvia, left, and Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, have a conversation on stage about the U.S.-Latvia partnership, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in front of dinner guest at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, right, listens to the President of the Republic of Latvia as they talk about the U.S.-Latvia partnership, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Edgars<\/p>\n

Edgars Rink\u0113vi\u010ds, President of the Republic of Latvia, left, and Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, have a conversation on stage about the U.S.-Latvia partnership, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in front of dinner guest at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Edgars<\/p>\n

Edgars Rink\u0113vi\u010ds, President of the Republic of Latvia, talks to Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, right, listens to the President of the Republic of Latvia as they talk about the U.S.-Latvia partnership, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy talks about the U.S.-Latvia partnership, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Latvia<\/p>\n

Latvia and American flags behind them, Edgars Rink\u0113vi\u010ds, President of the Republic of Latvia, left, and Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, have a conversation about the U.S.-Latvia partnership, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, during a dinner at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Lisa<\/p>\n

Lisa Argyros, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia, speaks during a dinner, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Latvia<\/p>\n

Latvia and American flags behind them, Edgars Rink\u0113vi\u010ds, President of the Republic of Latvia, left, and Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, have a conversation about the U.S.-Latvia partnership, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, during a dinner at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Lisa<\/p>\n

Lisa Argyros, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia, speaks during a dinner, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 15<\/p>\n

Lisa Argyros, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia, speaks during a dinner, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. (Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Rink\u0113vi\u010ds said from Latvia\u2019s perspective, the biggest blow to authoritarian regimes like Russia would be if Ukraine wins, \u201cin a sense that it stays an independent, democratic country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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,\u201d he said. \u201cBut for Ukraine to win, they need our support on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support for Ukraine was one of the main reasons Latvia banned Russian natural gas imports in 2023, Rink\u0113vi\u010ds said. Since then, Latvia has begun shifting to importing U.S. natural gas<\/a> 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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 \u201csee the need to have strong cooperation with the United States,\u201d Rink\u0113vi\u010ds said.<\/p>\n

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 \u201ckind of defense union\u201d to protect countries that want to join the EU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen comes the most difficult part: We still have countries that want to join us, (like) Ukraine, Moldova and (the western Balkan states),\u201d Rink\u0113vi\u010ds said. \u201cBut we understand that if we don\u2019t make political reform of the whole management structure, this is going to be hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The half-hour chat between McCarthy and Rink\u0113vi\u010ds circled back to where it began. Responding to a question from McCarthy about what Latvia can provide that the U.S. doesn\u2019t have already, Rink\u0113vi\u010ds said such conversations around trade and economic affairs should not be \u201cabout who is missing what.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are some things that probably unite us. \u2026 We all cherish the same kind of ideals and values. I think that is something that we need to concentrate on,\u201d he said. \u201cThis group is actually shrinking to some extent \u2026 if we have the same kind of understanding of values and interests, we need to stick together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About 300 people gathered for an invite-only event at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,100,11975,13,27469],"class_list":["post-475809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-news","tag-nixon-library","tag-politics","tag-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}