Clinton: Economics key to foreign policy

NEW YORK, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- The United States must put economics at the center of its foreign policy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says.

Clinton, in a key speech Friday at the Economic Club of New York, also is expected to say economic forces are transforming foreign policy realities globally, and the United States must position itself to lead the world "where security is shaped in boardrooms and on the trading floors as well as on the battlefields," CNN reported.

"We have seen governments toppled by economic crisis," Clinton said in prepared remarks released before her speech. "Revolutions born in a Tunisian marketplace have swept across an entire region. Europe faces its strongest test in a generation, thanks to recession and debt. And everywhere I travel, I see countries gaining influence not because of the size of their armies, but because of the growth of their economies."

The State Department said Clinton would outline how the United States uses economic "statecraft" for enhancing its economic strength at home.

Clinton's remarks indicate she is updating U.S. foreign policy priorities to include economics "every step of the way."

"When their leaders approach a foreign policy challenge -- just as when they approach a domestic challenge -- one of the first questions they ask is, 'How will this affect our economic growth?'" the prepared remarks said. "We need to be asking the same question -- not because the answer will dictate our foreign policy choices, but because it must be a significant part of the equation."