Executive Brief

Two-way goods and services trade totaled an estimated $7.3B in 2024, up 15% (USTR). On July 21, 2026, the U.S. and Jordan signed an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade — the first such agreement in the Middle East. Yet the channel is narrow — Over 90% of Jordan's garment exports go to the United States (U.S. ITA). Roughly 55–60% of U.S. imports from Jordan are apparel (2024 trade data). — and the investment lane is nearly empty: U.S. FDI stock in Jordan was just $190M in 2022 on a historical-cost basis (BEA via State Dept) — the latest published figure.

Roughly 100,000–125,000 Americans of Jordanian ancestry or birth, per official U.S. data, include a verified floor of ≥2,408 physicians and 2,441 students in American universities. Jordan's own flagship diaspora program prioritizes other corridors first — the U.S. lane is open.

One independent, U.S.-domiciled nonprofit platform — under strategic Royal sponsorship without governance — operating the U.S. execution layer that no existing institution performs: no standing, independent, U.S.-domiciled platform today combines U.S. market execution for Jordanian SMEs, diaspora investment curation, and diaspora talent matching. Everything else is run in MoU partnership with the institutions that already do it: the Ministry of Investment's opportunity map, JEDCO's export readiness, the Jordanian Businessmen Association's convening, the embassy's interface.

Two funded proof points are proposed first, with the remaining eight presented as a sequenced, condition-gated menu:

Tier 2 (after traction): Health & Life Sciences Corridor (non-clinical), Diaspora Investment Network, Digital & Professional Services Hub, Export House, Fellowship, Summit, American Companies → Jordan. Tier 3 (conditional): Growth Fund. A diaspora bond is explicitly not proposed.

Base-case scenarios are deliberately modest: Base-case Gateway impact: about $5M per year in incremental exports — illustrative scenario. Digital services hub base case: about $3.75M per year in services revenue — illustrative scenario. Investment Network base case: roughly $1.2M per year in committed capital — illustrative scenario. The combined base case equals about 0.16% of U.S. imports from Jordan. Scenario estimate — not a commitment, not a forecast.

An independent-majority board with an independent chair; Jordanian institutional participation without voting control; No single funder would provide more than 25% of revenue under the proposed funding-ethics policy. All donors of $5K and above would be published under the proposed transparency policy. Procurement above a $25K threshold would require at least three competitive quotes under the proposed published rules.; annual independent audit and bilingual public reporting. The Royal Hashemite Court's proposed role is strategic sponsorship only — patronage without governance — consistent with the constitutional position that commercial execution rests with Cabinet, the private sector, and independent institutions. A FARA posture review by qualified U.S. counsel precedes any funding or sponsorship arrangement.

Modeled envelopes: A lean pilot envelope of $700–850K per year (2.5 FTE, virtual-first) — illustrative scenario, not a commitment, not a forecast. pilot; A three-year program envelope of ~$5.75M cumulative — illustrative scenario, not a commitment, not a forecast. over three years; A mature run-rate of ~$4.3M per year — illustrative scenario, not a commitment, not a forecast. at maturity, with At maturity, at least 70% of revenue would be private or earned under the proposed financing mix. private and earned revenue at maturity. No Royal or government financing is assumed; no funding has been committed as of August 2026.

Phase 0 (0–3 months): FARA counsel memo, reconciled fact-base, a 60-day demand test through Jordan's chambers and JEDCO, founding-lead recruitment, and funding sought from at least three unrelated private sources. Phase 1 (3–12 months): the two Tier-1 proof points under published go/no-go gates. Phase 2 (years 1–3): Tier-2 programs begin as gates are met. Phase 3 (years 3–5): institutionalization and the fund decision point. Each initiative page carries its own gates and discontinuation criteria.

A published scorecard: trade (exporters entering the U.S. market, export revenue, contracts), investment (qualified investors, commitments realized), talent (verified members, completed engagements), employment (jobs in Jordan, U.S. business opportunities), innovation (startups and researchers connected), youth (fellowship completion and alumni attachment), and institutional performance (cost per outcome, private dollars mobilized per program dollar).

Regulatory posture (mitigated by independent counsel review before any arrangement); duplication of existing institutions (mitigated by MoU-only Jordan-side design); unproven demand (mitigated by demand gates — at least 25 companies signed letters of intent before Gateway cohort spend); diaspora trust and data perception (mitigated by a GDPR-grade privacy charter, U.S. data residency, and a no-government-sharing commitment); sustainability without committed funding (disclosed plainly on this site until resolved).

This request is proportionate to the evidence. It does not ask anyone to approve an organization.