Gov. Pawlenty meets with leaders from Osaka, Japan, and the Kansai Region. Pictured from left to right: Mayor Kunio Hiramatsu, Mayor of Osaka, Japan; Governor Tim Pawlenty; and Chairman Shigataka Sato, Chairman of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (Photo courtesy of the Office of the Governor)

In Asia, Pawlenty ends final trade mission as governor

St. Paul, Minn. — Governor Tim Pawlenty will be back in Minnesota this weekend after a 10-day trade mission to China and Japan.

Pawlenty has been leading a delegation of more than 40 business and government officials. Speaking this morning via telephone from Tokyo, Pawlenty said a good way for the U.S. to dig out of its economic troubles would be to increase exports.

During a Friday conference call from Tokyo with Minnesota reporters, Pawlenty provided an audio postcard of what is likely his last overseas trip as governor.

In Pawlenty's words, fast-growing countries like China "don't need our money, they want our technology. They want our innovation."

He said while Minnesota's large companies are used to doing business in places like Japan and China, smaller companies need help getting into foreign markets.

"These trade missions are designed to give them an efficient, organized user-friendly opportunity to learn more about these countries, the barriers and opportunities for trade and exports into these countries," Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty led a similar delegation of business and government representatives to China in 2005.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Pawlenty announced his PAC's cash haul in its first six months of existence.

(CNN) - Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, thought to be considering a 2012 White House bid, announced Saturday his political action committee raised $1.84 million in the six months since it was created.

According to a statement from Pawlenty's Freedom First PAC, more than $550,000 of that money came in the first quarter of 2010.

Pawlenty is pledging to use the funds to help elect conservative candidates in the 2010 midterm elections.

“We need to put freedom first again in America, and stop the out-of-control spending in Washington," he said in the statement. "The early support for our organization will help us elect candidates who can rein in Washington and renew the promise of freedom.”

Pawlenty was scheduled to appear at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference held in New Orleans this weekend but canceled the trip to instead welcome home troops who have been serving in Iraq. He is now addressing the gathering of Republican activists by satellite.

Tim Pawlenty Starts His Engines for the 2012 Presidential Campaign

It’s two years away, but speculation surroundin the 2012 presidential race is alive and kicking, if only for the increasingly irrefutable fact that anyone who intends to run without immediate access to a cable news soapbox is starting the 2012 campaign at a severe disadvantage. It is the uphill battle facing possible Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, who, from the Minnesota Governor’s mansion must be watching potential challengers like Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, and Newt Gingrich milk their cable news contracts for all they’re worth.

Mitt Romney managed to somewhat dubiously get himself into the news cycle this week too, and even Dick Cheney, who despite denying any interest in the presidency is topping Republican presidential contender polls along with Palin et al, is keeping his face in the public eye.

Pawlenty is taking an unorthodox approach compared to his would-be opponents: making media appearances to debate substantive issues. He has willingly stepped into the ring to debate health care with President Obama, taking advantage of the President’s call for a bipartisan health care summit on February 25th to publicly list off his ideas on the topic. On Sunday, the Washington Post published an opinion piece by the governor entitled “Five Ways to Reform Health Care,” and last night Pawlenty appeared on Fox News to explain his ideas to Greta Van Susteren on air. It’s a comprehensive conservative approach that highlights the token set of problems Republicans have been pointing out with the current reform – interstate insurance availability, tort reform, a more meritocratic approach to awarding insurance companies. It goes beyond a simple grocery list of possible changes in the way the American health care industry works: it’s a sizable chunk of a campaign platform.