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Hawaii is a natural American business and security bridge to Asia and the state would benefit from a possible trade agreement between the U.S. and the European Union, the EU’s ambassador to Washington says.

Ambassador João Vale de Almeida, who arrived in Honolulu on Wednesday for three days of meetings with an array of local power players, suggested that Europe and Hawaii should work more closely together on the business and, specifically, tourism front.

Before Vale de Almeida took part in scheduled meetings with Gov. Neil Abercrombie, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, business figures and Adm. Samuel Locklear, who is in charge of the U.S. Pacific Command, he sat down for an interview with Civil Beat.

Other planned stops include the University of Hawaii and a drop-in on “President Obama’s high school.”

The ambassador, who hopes to visit all 50 American states during the course of his stint in Washington, D.C., expressed interest in Hawaii’s notable ethnic diversity and how it plays out in real life.

The interview has been edited for brevity:

Civil Beat: Why have you come to Hawaii?

Vale de Almeida: I am in charge of deepening and strengthening trans-Atlantic ties. It is quite challenging to come talk about that in the middle of the Pacific, but I do because we should not forget Hawaii and Hawaii should not forget Europe.

I am also trying to visit all 50 states. With Hawaii, it is 37 states. I learn a lot every day from traveling around the country. I report back on all of the things to Brussels (which is home to the European Union’s government) … So we were looking for a good reason to come here.

Also, I am Portuguese and there is a Portuguese presence here that goes back many centuries. It always fascinates me how people from my country have gone all of the world.

CB: When you meet with the mayor and the governor, what do you plan to discuss?

VdA: Two issues. The Asia-Pacific strategic security dimension. That involves new American interests and investments in this part of the world, including in Hawaii. The president has said he wants to pivot to Asia. I will ask: ‘How is that felt here? Are you happy with that? How does that affect you?’

And secondly, trade. We are in the process of negotiating a free trade area between Europe and the United States, which includes Hawaii. I’m not sure that people are really aware of it over here, so I want to raise awareness. Your representatives in the Congress will, at one point, vote in favor or against. I would rather that they vote in favor. I would also like to see Hawaii benefit from it and Europeans trading more, making more investment and making more economic links with Hawaii?

CB: Where do you see opportunities for Hawaii and Europe to work more together?

VdA: You import 85 percent of what you eat, if I understand correctly. Most of it comes from the U.S. or Asia, but should more come from Europe?

Also, with cargo linked to trade, which is linked to air connections, shouldn’t there be more tourism coming here from Europe. And if there is, why shouldn’t there be more European tourism investment in Hawaii. And if you tell me that there will be more Chinese people coming over, that is interesting as a bridge to Asia.

Then there is the strategic security dimension of the Pacific. You are halfway to Asia. You have the Pacific Command here. I am sure the admiral has a pretty good view of what is going on. If he shares that with me, I think it is a good way to reinforce what is going on when I write back home. I don’t know what I will learn, what people will tell me, but my starting point is that Hawaii is interesting.

CB: When you talk to the mayor or the governor, what is your argument?

VdA: That trade is a good thing. Liberalizing trade and goods and services, including transport, has proved to be good for the world economy, for our economy, for the U.S. economy.

I understand why there is a Jones Act. I understand the constraints the Americans have around the Jones Act. I am not raising the question of the existence of the Jones Act myself. I am talking about liberalizing trade. These are the kinds of things to put on the table … as part of the negotiations.

But I don’t make deals with state-level authorities. I am a facilitator in the sense that I bring information. I raise awareness. And I collect information that could raise awareness in Brussels. I try to connect different people. We were in Seattle yesterday talking about trade with people in the state government there and I felt they didn’t know much — or not enough — about the free trade agreement with the European Union.

CB: And what should people in Hawaii know about the potential agreement?

VdA: Anything that the U.S. negotiates with another partner will affect, in the good and bad sense, Hawaii, just like any other state. Secondly, Hawaii can benefit as a small, isolated state in the middle of the ocean from an extended economic relationship with the biggest economic and trading block in the world, the European Union. Maybe opportunities are being missed. Either they are too turned toward Asia, which is absolutely normal, or they don’t have enough information coming from the mainland.

CB: What sort of economic opportunities do you see here for Europe?

VdA: This is a very successful tourist destination. You have a unique product. I am sure that European investors are already here, but more should come. You are very close to the Asian market that growth will mainly come from in the next decade. And there are many European tourists coming here … so more Europeans should invest in tourism here. All of these kinds of things could be facilitated by the free trade area agreement.

CB: Where do the negotiations stand and why should people in Hawaii care about the creation of a free trade area with the European Union?

VdA: We started the negotiations in July … I hope the deal will happen in the next two or three years.

It could have near-term effects for the economy here. There are studies — and studies are worth what they’re worth — that say there could be a 10 percent increase in Hawaiian exports, creating thousands of jobs here … You never know about these sorts of things. It could go way beyond expectations.

CB: You also said that you came to learn about President Obama’s increasing attention to Asia.

VdA: The United States has announced a pivot to Asia. We want to understand that a little bit better. We are very interested in Asia ourselves for economic and political reasons … This is a good place to observe all that so I would like to hear the views of people in Hawaii.

What does that pivot mean to you?

VdA: First of all, America is a Pacific country. Sometimes people in Europe forget that the U.S. has two oceans and they are equally important for them … This is a natural interest for America.

Secondly, we believe it is as political as much as economic. In the recent past, the growth of economic links to Asia has been exponential, so it is only normal that is accompanied by political interest. For us it is the same.

I have a meeting with Admiral Locklear. I’ll ask how he sees the pivot to Asia and about security in this part of the world. We are working very well with the Americans to try to deepen our cooperation in Asia. We don’t challenge what they want to do because, fundamentally, they want to do what we want to do, to keep lines of trade and communications open, keep stability in the region, help people avoid potential conflict. So we are on the same page.

CB: What can the European Union do in terms of security in the Asian-Pacific region?

VdA: We have different tools than you. We don’t have a military presence in the region. We play a more diplomatic and political role, as well as an economic one. We have been working with ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) to build institutions and develop regional integration, which is also a source of stability, as we have learned in Europe.

We also have a history of conflict prevention, which is the resolution of conflicts through dialogue and compromise. This European culture is a source — and could be even more so — of inspiration for Asia. If you look at the problems that you Americans are trying to address or prevent, these problems are made more complex by the absence of mechanisms of dialogue and conflict management. There are no such platforms in East Asia; there is no way of talking about problems. There are no systems of compromise and things can blow up into big issues that become difficult to control.

CB: When you talk to people about trade here, do you go into things like the Jones Act (which, in many cases, artificially raises costs for many foreign goods that are shipped to Hawaii)?

VdA: Very much so. We will look at all of the obstacles of different natures — some are more justifiable than others.

CB: What is the European view of Hawaii?

VdA: It is important to look at the maps. Geography is crucial. Hawaii is part of the United States in the middle of the Pacific. From Europe, the Pacific and Asia is very far away from us. We are about to deepen our relationship with the U.S. Hawaii is part of the U.S. so maybe this can have positive impacts for the way that we approach Asia and the Pacific region.

Hawaii, in the European imagination, is very far away, certainly much further than Thailand. But in today’s world, people even from small countries like Portugal or Ireland go for one-week vacations on the other side of the world. The distance is no longer that important.

There is the potential here to at least explore things further, given the prospects for a free trade area.

CB: What else intrigues you about Hawaii?

VdA: This is also a melting pot of people coming from very different origins, from at least three continents, if you consider Polynesia a part of Oceania. You have Japanese, Chinese, Polynesians, Americans from the mainlands … I read and hear that many couples are mixed. That is quite interesting in these times when everyone talks about the integration of immigrants.