Background Press Call by Senior Administration Officials Previewing the President’s Upcoming Bilateral Engagement
6:22 P.M. EST
MODERATOR: Hi, everybody. Thanks for joining us this evening. Happy to be hosting this one on a Thursday night, not a Friday night, for the first time in a while. Just a quick reminder of our ground rules here. This call is embargoed until 8:00 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow, November 10th.
The whole call is attributable to a sen- — or to “senior administration officials,” plural. For awareness but not for reporting, NSC — we have on the call with us tonight [senior administration official] and [senior administration official]. And I won’t waste any time. I’ll hand it over to [senior administration official].
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: [Moderator], thank you very much. And thanks, all, for joining the call. And I apologize for some of the movement around of the timing of this. That is not [moderator] or our excellent press team. That is squarely on me, and I’m grateful that all of you were able to join.
So, look, I’m just going to do a little bit of backgrounding, and then [senior administration official] will go through some of the particulars and specifics that you should be looking for next week.
So, we’re grateful that you’ve all joined. Just want to underscore that President Biden will, indeed, meet with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China in the San Francisco Bay area of California on November 15th. I think some of you remember, but their last meeting was a year ago in person in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the G20.
During their session next week, we anticipate the leader –leaders will discuss issues in the U.S.-PRC bilateral relationship, the continued importance of strengthening open lines of communication and managing competition responsibly, and a range of regional, global, and transnational issues.
Now, I’m going to just take a moment just for all of you because I think it’s important to set the context and our overall strategic approach because that is essential for understanding and interpreting what happens next week. I’ll get into more details on the meeting shortly, but first I’d like to take a step back and discuss how we got here.
At the start of this administration, the PRC was convinced that the United States was in terminal decline. Around the world, there were doubts about our staying power, our economic vitality, our commitment to our allies, and the health of our democracy. Much of that has changed under President Biden’s leadership.
Over the last nearly three years, the administration has surveyed the strategic landscapes, (inaudible), and took a series of purposeful, strategic steps both at home and abroad in a diplomatic context that we think is sustaining.
From the beginning, our approach has been consistent. We are in competition with China, but we do not seek conflict, confrontation, or a new Cold War. We are mana- — we are for managing the competition responsibly.
We’re going into the meeting confident in our overall approach and our position. First, we are going into this meeting with game-changing investments in American strength at home through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
The United States has had the strongest recovery and lowest (inaudible) inflation of any leading economy. We’ve created 14 million jobs — more in two years than any president in a four-year term. We’ve had 21 straight months of unemployment under 4 percent for the first time in half a century, and the U.S. economy grew by 4.9 percent in the third quarter.
Large-scale investments in semiconductors and clean energy production are up 20-fold since 2019. We’re estimating 3.5 trillion in public and private investment over the next six decades. Construction spending on manufacturing has doubled.
Second, we’re going into this meeting having deepened our alliances and partnerships abroad in ways that would’ve been unimaginable just a few years ago. In the year since Bali, President Biden hosted leaders from Japan, the ROK, the Philippines, India, and Australia for bilateral meetings.
He formally launched AUKUS. He held a historic trilateral summit with the ROK and Japan at Camp David. He traveled to Japan for the G — G7 and the Quad Summit and later traveled to Vietnam to upgrade the relationship between our two countries to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. He hosted the leaders of the Pacific Island countries here in Washington for a second summit.
Even as we work hard every day on the conflict in Israel and Gaza and the war in Ukraine, this week alone, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Ambassador to the U.N., and the Special Presiden- — Presidential Envoy for Climate are all in the Indo-Pacific. And on Monday, President Biden will meet with President Jokowi of Indonesia for an official visit before heading out to San Francisco.
And that really brings me back to diplomacy with the PRC after that as a background. After investing at home and strengthening ties with allies and partners abroad, now is precisely the time for high-level diplomacy. Our approach is steady and consistent. We’re not stepping back from our interests and values; we’re moving forward on them.
In the last year, we’ve put in new rules on outbound and investment and updated our export controls on semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. We’ve taken actions against PRC entities involved in human rights abuses, forced labor, non-proliferation, and supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine. And we’ve continued to uphold freedom of navigation in the region by flying, sailing, and operating wherever international law allows.
But we also believe that intense competition requires and demands intense diplomacy to manage tensions and to prevent competition from verging into conflict or confrontation. We’re clear-eyed about this. We know efforts to shape or reform China over several decades have failed, but we expect China to be around and to be a major player on the world stage for the rest of our lifetimes.
And we think diplomacy is how we clear up misperceptions, (inaudible), communicate, avoid surprises, and explain our competitive steps. It is also how we work together and where and when our interests align — where our interests align and deliver on key priorities for the American people. And it’s how we set up crisis communication mechanisms to reduce conflict, risk, or work together on climate, health, or macroeconomic stability.
This is not a change in our approach. The United States has decades of experience talking to and even working with competitors when our interests call for it. And this meeting with President Xi is in keeping with that tradition in American statecraft.
And at this meeting, I think you can expect us to draw on that experience as we both stabilize the relationship and deliver in material, tangible ways for the American people.
I’ll turn it over now to [senior administration official] to go into a little bit more detail on the specifics of our diplomacy next week in San Francisco.
[Senior administration official]?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks so much, [senior administration official].
As you all know, this is President Biden’s first interaction with President Xi in a year. A lot has happened in that intervening period, as [senior administration official] noted.
Just to give a bit of context, this will be their seventh interaction since the start of the Biden administration but just the second in-person meeting. Of course, both leaders have a longstanding relationship that began when they were both vice presidents. They’ve known each other for roughly a dozen years.
In the last eight months, we have worked to restore diplomatic interaction. The National Security Advisor met with Director Wang Yi three times. The Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Commerce went to Beijing. China, for its part, sent its vice president, its foreign minister, its vice premier, and other senior officials here to the United States in recent months for meetings.
In addition, we have launched a number of working-level consultations with the PRC in discrete, carefully chosen areas where deeper discussion can benefit U.S. and global interests, such as arms control, maritime issues, and macroeconomic and debt issues.
We expect the leaders will discuss strategic direction of the bilateral relationship, the importance of maintaining open lines of communication, including (inaudible). We expect they’ll cover a range of regional and global issues too, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict. And they’ll consider how we can work together where our interests align, particularly on transnational challenges that affect the international community, such as climate and counter-narcotics.
As is always the case, the two leaders will discuss issues where we have differences, such as human rights, cross-trade issues, South China Sea, and a fair and level playing field for U.S. companies and workers.
I’ll leave it there for now and welcome any questions you all have.
MODERATOR: Great. And with that, we’ll open it up to questions.
Great. And our first question will go to Tamara Keith with NPR.
Q Thank you so much. This is just a really small technical question, but you said that the meeting will take place in the San Francisco Bay area. Does that mean it may not be in actual San Francisco but some other city? I just want to make sure our stories have the right location.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, thanks for that. We’re using “the Bay Area” because for operational security reasons, we’re not going to get into specifics of the location.
Q So, we should not say “San Francisco” in our stories?
MODERATOR: I think — it’s [moderator], “Bay Area” is safe to use.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, “San Francisco Bay Area” is the right approach. That’s why we put it in there. And thanks for the question.
Q Thank you.
MODERATOR: Next, we’ll go to Andrew Feinberg with The Independent.
Andrew. Your line should be unmuted.
Q Hi, thank you for doing this. Next year is an election year. Will the President be offering any warning or caution or admonition to President Xi about interfering in the election? We know China has tried influence operations in the past. I believe there was some during the last election. Will the United States be offering any sort of admonishment not to do it again?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks for the question, Andrew. Without getting into specifics of the meeting, I think it’s fair to say we’re going to cover a whole range of topics that are potentially contentious. Certainly, one area we have covered in the past in various high-level meetings is our concerns about potential election-influence operations. I would anticipate that this elect- — this issue could come up again.
MODERATOR: All right. Next, we’ll go to Trevor Hunnicutt with Reuters.
Q Hey, thanks for taking the question. Just wanted to see if a couple of con- — topics are coming up in this conversation: one, fentanyl; two, artificial intelligence; and three, U.S. detainees in China. Thank you.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Look, I think, the way [senior administration official] indicated, we — we expect a range of issues to be discussed between the two leaders. We’ve indicated to Chinese interlocutors that, basically, every element in our bilateral issue, our bilateral relationship will be on the table for discussion. I think it’s possible that all three issues will indeed be raised, yes.
MODERATOR: Next, we’ll go to Aamer Madhani with the AP.
Q Thank you. What goals or objectives need to be reached during these talks for what President Biden would consider a successful meeting?
And then, secondly, will the President have any specific message to President Xi about action that he’d like to see the Chinese take to help or at least not worsen the crisis in the Middle East? Thank you.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I think [senior administration official] will take the first part. I’ll take the second part.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks so much for that question. Look, I think there are a whole range of issues we expect to come up on the bilateral relationship. These are tough conversations, not just on bilat issues, of course, as we mentioned on global, on transnational issues. There’s a lot going on in the world and the U.S. and China, I think, as — as two countries with interest around the globe have a — have a responsibility to be — to talk about these issues, whether Middle East, whether Russia, Ukraine.
In terms of specific goals, as [senior administration official] had mentioned, this is not the relationship of 5 or 10 years ago. We’re not talking about a long list of outcomes or deliverables. The goals here really are about managing the competition, preventing the downside risk of conflict and ensuring channels of communication are open.
So, you know, I think — I think we are going into the meetings with realistic expectations about what we’re going to achieve but understanding that this is the responsible thing to do, it’s what our partners and allies need to see — this competition being managed responsibly.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: And I would just say — and thank you for the questions. I think, you know, we’re looking to stabilize the relationship in ways that support our partners and our alliances and also support the American people.
So, I think the President will seek — will be seeking that around and along a whole range of issues more directly.
And then your second question, can you just repeat it? I’m — I apologize, I just forgot it.
Q No problem. Will the President have any specific message for President Xi regarding any action —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah —
Q — that he’d like to see the Chinese take on the crisis in the Middle East?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Look, I do want to say I expect the President to raise a number of issues of concern with President Xi in a regional context. There will be a conversation on North Korea about some of our concerns, with respect to the relationship with Russia in Ukraine.
I think with respect to the Middle East, I believe that the President will underscore our desire for China to make clear in its burgeoning relationship in — with Iran that it is essential that Iran not seek to escalate or spread violence in the Middle East, and to warn quite clearly that if Iran undertakes provocative actions anywhere that the United States is prepared to respond and respond promptly.
MODERATOR: Next, we’ll go to Kevin Liptak with CNN.
Q Yes, thank you. I know you just said that you feel like the outcomes will be limited somewhat. Do you expect any kind of joint leaders’ statement to come out of the meeting? And then, I wonder how much time have you blocked off for the two men to speak to each other? Will they — will they — there be a one-on-one component? What are sort of the — what’s the — kind of the choreography of the meeting next week?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, can I just say just very quickly, I understand the question about — about whether the outcomes are limited. I think some of the outcomes are substantial; they’re just different from in the past. And that’s, I think, what needs to be carefully focused on.
Much of what we’re seeking to do is to create a framework for successful management of a difficult and complicated and complex relationship. And I think you will see evidence of that next week.
[Senior administration official], do you want to touch base on —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Sure. On what the meeting will look like? We’re expecting something along the lines of what you saw in — saw in Bali. We divided it up into a couple different sessions in Bali. We’d expect about the same this time around.
We’re anticipating a session focused on bilateral issues; anticipate, as we mentioned before, we’ll discuss as well global issues and transnational issues.
So, look, I think this is more than just a bilat on the margins of a multilateral meeting. We’re setting some time aside for the two leaders to sit down and have in-depth conversations on the full range of issues that the U.S. and China face across the globe and bilaterally.
MODERATOR: All right, next we’ll go to Andrea Mitchell with NBC.
Q Thank you very much for doing this. Do you expect that military-to-military communications — that in maintaining a — or working on a relationship, that it would be unusual if you did not at the minimum restore what is considered a minimum, which is — between two superpowers — military-to-military communications? Would that be disappointing to the President?
And do you feel that one of the conversations will be related to the balloon to clean up whatever residual issues remain from that of misunderstandings and of understandings going forward as to their balloon program and their intelligence gathering?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Andrea, it’s [senior administration official]. It’s nice to hear your voice, and thank you for calling in tonight.
I’ll just start this. I will say that the President has been determined to take the necessary steps to restore what we believe are (inaudible) communications between the United States and China on the military side.
And, we’ll likely have more to say about that next week.
Let me ask [senior administration official] to jump in.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: We’ve raised the importance of mil-mil channels in nearly every conversation we’ve had with the Chinese. This is absolutely critical. And when we’re talking about managing risks, about avoiding conflict, this is exactly the sort of communication we need to be having, both at senior levels of our two militaries but also operator to operator.
So, I anticipate we will plan to have a discussion about this next week as well.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I will say, Andrea, just further on this, you know, although it is true that the President and Secretary Blinken, National Security Advisor Sullivan, and particularly Secretary Austin have raised these issues in every encounter, I think it is fair to say that the Chinese have been reluctant. And so, the President is going to press assertively next week. And then we hope to have more to report on Wednesday.
(Cross-talk.)
MODERATOR: Sorry, Andrea. Did you have a follow-up?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, it’s the balloon question.
Look, I will say this on the —
Q Yeah, the second part of my question was on the balloon — their balloon program and on their —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah.
Q — intelligence gathering to clear up misunderstanding.
Sorry, [senior administration official].
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Look — no, no, I understand, Andrea.
So, I will say this, I — the balloon comes up often in the context of the need for communications between our two sides. And I think the balloon episode underscored the difficulty we had at the time to be able to establish high-level consequential communications with Beijing. And we’ve made that case persistently and consistently.
And as I said, I think you can expect the President to raise the broad parameters of mil-to-mil engagement with President Xi next week.
Q Thank you.
MODERATOR: All right. Next, we’ll go to Sang-ho Song with Yonhap News.
Q Thank you very much for doing — for doing this. [Senior administration official], you touched upon North Korea as part of the agenda in the original context. But specifically, I’m wondering if President Biden and President Xi will discuss growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia and overall North Korean nuclear and missile threats, and as well as the issues of China’s forced repatriations of North Korean refugees. Thank you.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Look, I — as I indicated, I think an effective dialogue between the two leaders must touch on regional hotspots, particularly where U.S. and Chinese interests engage.
We’ve watched with some concern of the burgeoning relationship of late between North Korea and Russia, the provision of military equipment directly there, continuing provocations of North Korea.
I think we intend to underscore our continuing concerns around those provocations to China, who continues to be a substantial patron of North Korea.
We will also reiterate our readiness to conduct diplomacy with North Korea and our determination to take steps to deter provocations and to seek the full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Q Is it fair to believe that all the issues would be part of the official agenda? Are you talking about that?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I don’t quite understand the question, but I think we’ve tried to indicate, through all of these questions, that these will be very (inaudible) discussions. Nothing will be held back. Everything is on the table. And I believe that that’s how we intend to conduct these discussions.
Q And —
MODERATOR: Okay, we’re going to take our next question. We’ll go — Dimitri (inaudible).
Q Thanks very much. two questions. [senior administration official], [senior administration official], people often say that to prevent a Taiwan conflict, you need the right mix of deterrence and reassurance. You’ve done a lot on deterrence. What can President Biden do in private reassurance that he hasn’t done in public?
And secondly, is President Biden going to warn Xi Jinping in person that China should not take any military action against Filipino forces on the Second Thomas Shoal?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Great. Thanks so much for that. Look — and I think in every conversation we’ve had, cross-strait issues absolutely comes up. If we look towards next year, they have both the Taiwan election, the presidential transition, and, of course, our own election makes this — could make this quite a bumpy year.
I think our goal into the meetings will be to reaffirm, of course, the U.S. One China Policy; our int- — our — you know, our focus on maintaining the status quo; our focus on ensuring their peace and stability; making clear to the Chinese that any actions or interference in the election would raise extremely strong concerns from our side.
And I think when you talk about reassurance — and I think part of this is trying to, you know, again, ensure that we’re clear we are not supportive of Taiwan independence. That is our longstanding policy. And going into this election, I think that will be one issue, of course, that we will try to reaffirm.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, I would just say — just to build on that, Dimitri. I think — I think what we will — we will seek to do is just amplify our existing messages and to present them with clarity. And we believe that those messages are indeed stabilizing and they are consistent with long-held and longstanding American policy to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
And then your second question. I can’t believe what is happening to (inaudible) — forgot your second question.
Q It happens to me too.
Is President Biden directly going to tell Xi Jinping —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Okay.
Q — not to take military action on the Second Thomas Shoal?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah. Look, I — you were there as the President — last month when the President was asked about the South China Sea and the Philippines — that he made very clear our commitments to the Philippines and to the security treaty as applied to the South China Sea.
I think you can expect the President to underscore our continuing commitment to the Philippines, our determination to maintain peace and stability and stand by the Philippines in the face of continued provocations.
MODERATOR: All right, next we’ll go to Ellen Nakashima with the Post.
Q Yeah, bringing up the rear. I think all the questions have been asked. I just wanted to —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Right in the (inaudible).
Q Oh, hello? Can you hear me? Hello.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: We hear you, Ellen. I said you’re right in the heart of the pack. You’re not bringing up the rear. Go ahead.
Q Do you think both sides come to this meeting with a common desire to stabilize the relationship? And do you have common understandings of what that stability means and what exactly would that translate into in practical terms — anything beyond reestablishing the mil-to-mil communication channel?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Look, Ellen, I think we’ll have more to say about that next week, but I think our goal will be to try to take steps that indeed stabilize the relationship between the United States and China, remove some areas of misunderstanding, and open up new lines of communication. That’s going to be our goal and objective.
I think the larger question is really not so much the basis of — of that stabilization but the duration of it. And the question, really, on the table: Is China seeking these set steps for tactical or short-term measures, or are they seeking to truly improve relations with the United States and other allies and partners? And we’re going to interrogate those assumptions closely and clearly.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Maybe just one thing to add, if I can, Ellen. I think as we talk about stabil- — stabilization, it’s important to emphasize: Our China policy has not changed. We’re talking about stabilization. We’re talking about channels of communication, lowering the temps, an approach of no surprises. But we are still committed to the “invest, align, compete” mantra and intend to continue taking actions to protect national security, continuing to focus on building up partnerships and alliances, and, of course, investing at home.
So, I want to make sure that comes clear through, too, because I think sometimes as we talk about stabilization and the channels of communication piece, that — that broader overlay of China policies sometimes get left — gets left behind and, in fact, those two are absolutely linked
Q Thank you.
MODERATOR: Next, we’ll go to — sorry, we’re going to take our next question, Ellen.
We’re going to go to Ari Hawkins with Politico. Ari, your line is unmuted. Please go ahead.
Q Hello. Thank you so much for doing all this. I really appreciate it. Quick, sort of a more specific question here. It sounds like a lot of this is kind of high-level. Will there be any chance for looking at Section 301 tariffs, that ongoing process? And the administration has talked about wrapping that up in the fall, so it’s sort of like now I’m curious if that’s going to come up.
And if I could just sneak one more in there, has the — China’s leader confirmed his attendance? Because — at least I haven’t seen anything from the Chinese foreign ministry or any of that. So, I’m curious how that’s playing into any of this.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks so much.
On that latter half of the question, I think, you know, one of the reasons this call is embargoed until, I think, 8:00 a.m. tomorrow is we’re anticipating, of course, that magic hour will be when you see announcements on the meeting and one would anticipate, perhaps, Chinese president’s attendance at APEC as well.
On your question regarding 301, look, I think in general on the leader-level engagements, we try to pull those up and keep them a bit broader strategic issues.
I certainly expect the — the question of economic and trade relationship to be on the agenda. The President at every meeting and engagement with President Xi has brought up the importance of a level playing field for American companies. And, of course, that’s an integral part of the 301.
But I don’t anticipate that we’ll get into the details of that. We’ll keep it a broader strategic view.
MODERATOR: We’re going to take just one more question. We’ll go to Nick Schifrin with PBS.
Q Hey, guys. Thanks very much.
[Senior administration official], you mentioned something in passing about Taiwan’s elections. Can you just make a point of that? Will the President go out of his way to deliver a warning to Xi Jinping about how Beijing should respond to the Taiwanese election given how they’re talking about William Lai?
And — and number two, Chinese diplomats are telling me that they have been, you know, pushing you guys in terms of the style of what Xi Jinping will see around him, the style of the meeting, but also the substance.
So, can you talk about, from your perspective, what you have to offer — if that’s the right verb — the Chinese side to reassure them that this meeting will go smoothly, that the APEC visit will go smoothly — whether, again, stylistically what she will see out of the window of his limo, for example, but also substantively, is there anything you’ve had to offer him ahead of time in order to get him to agree to this visit?
Thanks.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks so much. I don’t know — for those of you who have worked on one of these visits before, have been present, the — the run-up, the protocol, the press, the — the — all the logistical arrangements are pretty intense, as you would imagine. I don’t think there’s anything particularly new or different in this one.
This is President Xi’s first trip to the United States, I think — is it in six years? So, I think, just — just — it’s been a while. And certainly, a visit to San Francisco, I think, will be the first since he was a young, Communist Party secretary in the provinces. So, just the location and the venue offers some new pieces that you wouldn’t see in a Capitol-level visit.
But I think most of — most of the discussions have tracked pretty closely with — with what I have seen in other leader level engagement.
And I’m sorry, I forgot your first — oh, Taiwan.
On Taiwan, look, I think the — it’s important that we’re having this leader-level engagement now. It’s November, right? We’re in the middle of the campaign season in Taiwan. The election is early next year, the transition after that.
The next period is going to be complex. And so, giving the two leaders a chance to sit down and talk about that, clarify, as [senior administration official] said, our policy, which, of course, we do repeatedly, but having that time behind closed doors really to focus in on clarifying misperceptions and focusing in on understanding where they are as well, I think, are critical parts of the conversation.
We’ve been clear publicly and privately that interference in the Taiwan election is something we’re extremely concerned about. And of course, we’ll plan on delivering that message again.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I would just say one other thing, just to build on [senior administration official]’s good points. Not only will we make the case that activities that interfere with Taiwan’s electoral process — which, frankly, as you look at its growth over decades, is quite impressive — that not only do we stand very firmly against that, we’re also quite concerned by a ramping up of military activities around Taiwan in ways that are unprecedented, that are dangerous, that are provocative.
And we also believe that those actions undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and raise concerns not just there but in the Indo-Pacific at large. And the President has made those points consistently, and he will do so again next week in San Francisco.
MODERATOR: Right. That concludes our call this evening. Thank you all for joining.
Just as a reminder, the contents of the call are held under embargo until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, November 10th, Eastern time. Thank you all.
6:58 P.M. EST