Amid intense debates over impacts of tariff policies on the national economy, Virginia has a great news to offer businesses and entrepreneur as capital investment commitments in the state surpassed more than $100 billion this month.
Governor Glenn Youngkin attributed the landmark to his policies including measures that provided $9 billion in tax relief for Virginians, lowered the cost of living, streamlined 80,000 regulations to reduce the cost and time of doing business, and made record investments in critical priorities like education, public safety, transportation and ready business-ready sites.
At an event this week he declared, “opportunity is thriving in Virginia.”
“On day one we declared Virginia ‘open for business’ and with more than $100 billion in capital investments, over 265,000 jobs created and 15,000 high-growth startups, Virginia isn’t just competing to win—Virginia is winning,” Youngkin said.
The upbeat performance came as reassuring for Virginians as the loss of federal jobs in the metro area and possible implications of tariffs measures in key areas like inflation and cost of production makes businesses adjust their calculations. Experts say, although President Donald Trump has paused reciprocal tariffs to give space to negotiations, entrepreneurs want a definitive scenario for their businesses.
Speaking at the future site of Kalahari Resorts & Conventions in Spotsylvania County, Governor Youngkin said the $100 billion mark in committed capital investments in Virginia, is more than the previous two administrations combined.
Youngkin issued Executive Order 49, Accelerating Strategic Business Growth, Job Creation, and Investment in Virginia, which formalizes and makes permanent the Made in Virginia Investment Accelerator (MVIA) announced in May.
“Today’s executive order will make permanent the innovative steps we’ve taken to accelerate investment in Virginia and enable collaborative work across government to empower future growth.”
The MVIA delivers qualifying investments in the Commonwealth, those over $250 million and creating 250 jobs, robust collaboration of all key state agencies to help investors with permitting, infrastructure, and workforce needs to fast-track transformational investments in the Commonwealth. MVIA is led by the Secretary of Commerce and Trade and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), the Governor’s Office said.
According to a statement, Compete to Win’s six key focus areas accelerate support for target industries and new sectors, unleash a talented workforce, accelerate site and infrastructure development, make Virginia more affordable, break down barriers to reduce the cost of doing business, and drive innovation in the growth of small businesses and entrepreneurship.
“This administration is focused on operating at the speed of business, breaking down barriers and red tape, and listening to the business community to create jobs and drive growth. We are setting business investment records because of the Governor’s leadership and his signal to the market that Virginia wants to partner with the business community, wants to innovate with private industry, and wants to support private investment as much as possible,” said Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Juan Pablo Segura.
MVIA partner agencies include VEDP, the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Port of Virginia, Virginia Energy, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Department of Health, Virginia Works, the Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development, and Virginia Housing.
MVIA complements the Virginia Talent Accelerator and Workforce Housing Investment Program in providing a full suite of services to relocating or expanding businesses in the Commonwealth.
