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Written Testimony on HB188 — Jan Nespor, PhD (Ohio House Development Committee, October 27, 2025)

Summary

Written testimony of Jan Nespor, PhD, on HB188, the Ohio-Israel Trade and Innovation Partnership, to the Ohio House Development Committee, dated October 27, 2025. Nespor identifies as an emeritus professor at the Ohio State University submitting testimony as a private citizen, and states strong opposition to the bill. The testimony argues that creating ad hoc commissions targeting single countries is not a viable approach to international trade and investment, and says a commission should have a global focus. It states that Israel is not a top trading partner of Ohio and suggests that India or Japan could be explored instead. It urges the committee to reject HB188.

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“Written Testimony on HB188 — Jan Nespor, PhD (Ohio House Development Committee, October 27, 2025).” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2025-10-29-development-testimony-testimony-12216-f251ed430f/, SHA-256 014d3ef0908ec8e7981db46c24acf2cd8e3d81b03b7093a5686f85175f32eaa0.

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                               Written Testimony of Jan Nespor, PhD
                   HB188 Ohio-Israel Trade and Innovation Partnership
                              Ohio House Development Committee
                                            October 27, 2025

Chair Hoops, Vice Chair Lorenz, Ranking Member Brownlee, and members of the Development
Committee

Chair and members of the committee, my name is Jan Nespor, I’m a resident of Columbus, and an
emeritus professor at the Ohio State University. To be clear, I do not represent Ohio State
University, and am submitting testimony as a private citizen.

I strongly oppose HB188 and urge the Committee to reject it.

The strategy reflected in this legislation of creating ad hoc Commissions targeting single countries
(first Ireland, now Israel, who next?), then packing those commissions with partisans of the
countries rather than impartial analysts, is not a viable approach to developing international trade and
investment relations that benefit Ohio. If a commission to expand international economic relations
is needed at all it should have a global focus and have a membership representative of the full scope
of Ohio’s economy so that it can be responsive to rapidly changing global economic and political
conditions (e.g., the Trump adminsitration’s tariffs).

The selection of Israel as a focal country, moreover, does not make economic sense. Israel’s
economy is in bad shape and its credit ratings have been downgraded.1 The country is not a top
trading partner of Ohio,2 3 and although it is understandable that Israeli business and governmental
actors might want Ohio to invest in their country, it is not clear why they would want to invest in
Ohio. Indeed, a current focus of Israeli government policy is to stop the “brain drain” and the flight
of industry from the country.4 Stronger cases could probably be made for exploring deeper relations
with countries such as India (which accounts for the largest foreign-born population in Ohio), or
Japan (which has the largest FDI in the state).

The proposed legislation does not represent an efficient or effective way to improve Ohio’s
international economic relations. At most it simply helps legitimize Israel and throws support to its
troubled economy at a time when the country’s illegal annexations and genocidal actions have earned
it international opprobrium.

The Committee should focus instead on Ohio’s priorities and develop strategies to address the
pressing needs of the state, such as the economic disaster unfolding for Ohio farmers.5 I urge you
to move away from the agenda reflected in the proposed legislation and reject HB188.

1
  https://www.timesofisrael.com/fitch-downgrades-israels-credit-rating-warning-war-could-last-well-into-2025/,
https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-looking-at-66bn-war-bill-as-economic-woes-deepen
2
  https://www.worldstopexports.com/ohios-top-10-exports/
3
  The survey that Rep. Synenberg references in his testimony regarding Israel as being 4th in terms of ‘start-ups’
(https://ceoworld.biz/2024/04/09/ranked-worlds-most-startup-friendly-countries-2024/ ) is clearly outdated and
irrelevant. It lists the UK, the economy of which is imploding, as being #2.
4
 https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomerniv/2025/07/09/israels-evolution-from-startup-nation-to-crypto-nation/
5
  https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/09/30/ohio-family-farmers-describe-life-under-trump-tariffs-were-in-a-hell-of-a-
mess-here/

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