Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: Since 1851, Expos have introduced global consumer markets to United States culture, products, and technology, showcasing innovations such as x-ray machines, typewriters, touchscreens, the Ford Mustang, Disneyland, the Statue of Liberty, electricity, and much more. These global mega-events have not only been platforms to display architectural marvels and technological advancement but have also served as opportunities for cultural exchange and diplomatic engagement.
The United States uses Expos to promote American innovation, culture, and values, engaging global audiences and demonstrating the benefits of democratic principles, including free and fair trade and representative government. Expos facilitate people-to-people diplomacy while showcasing the latest American innovations that can help address global challenges and change the way we live. Expos are also competitive environments, where visible American engagement sends a message to visitors about United States leadership on the global stage.
The Department of State is responsible for United States participation in international exhibitions, managing United States engagement with the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), organizing United States participation at overseas Expos, and mobilizing international support for United States candidacies to host Expos. The United States has hosted more than two dozen world’s fairs since its first in 1876 in Philadelphia. The last United States-hosted world’s fair was The World of Rivers:
Fresh Water as a Source of Life in New Orleans in 1984, which included 15 participating countries and drew 7.355 million visitors. Beginning in 1994, a statutory restriction limited Federal funding for United States presence at Expos. Until the 2025 Expo in Osaka, the United States was the only G7 country that relies on private donations to guarantee its presence at world expos, and the only country in the world that relied entirely on private funding for the creation of its pavilion.
Sole reliance on private sector fundraising has caused the United States to miss out on important opportunities, including pulling out of the Hanover, Germany, Expo in 2000 and turning down an invitation to the Zaragoza, Spain, Expo in 2008. Most recently, despite a two-year fundraising campaign, the Department of State was unable to raise private sector support for the United States Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, and had to accept support from the United Arab Emirates, the first time in history that a United States Pavilion at a world’s fair was funded by the host country.
In recognition of delays, design compromise, and the risk of not participating at all due to lack of Federal funding, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, which authorized the use of up to $25 million to support the United States pavilion at the 2025 Expo in Osaka, Japan—the first authorization of its type. The United States pavilion at the 2025 Expo not only highlighted American leadership in technology, space exploration, tourism, and investment, but also proved to be the most popular pavilion, welcoming tens of millions of global visitors.
The United States should consider such participation a diplomatic priority and make the necessary investments to continue to fund a United States Pavilion that best tells America’s story to the millions of world visitors attending these mega-events.