President Joe Biden will announce during talks with world leaders at the G7 summit on Saturday a global $40 trillion infrastructure plan to “Build Back Better for the World.”
During their meeting, World leaders at the G7 summit plan to meet about the importance of a “fair, sustainable, inclusive global economy,” including a discussion about China.
The White House previewed the initiative in a call with reporters, promoting a plan that would compete with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. (A White House official branded Biden’s Build Back Better for the World proposal as “B3W” as opposed to China’s “BRI.”)
“We’ve seen the Chinese government demonstrate a lack of transparency, poor environmental and labor standards, and a course of approach that’s left many countries worse off,” a senior official said.
Biden’s plan would offer a different option for the world, the official noted, competing with China by offering a plan with the “highest labor and environmental standards.”
“This is about providing an affirmative, positive, alternative vision for the world than that is presented by China and, in some similar ways but also in some different ways, Russia,” the official said.
The White House stated that Biden would work with Congress to increase overseas infrastructure financing and coordinate funding from other G7 nations and the private sector to help fund infrastructure for low- and middle-income countries.
They cited a needed $40 trillion investment estimation by the World Bank through 2035 for their price tag.
“[W]e’re aiming for an ambitious and credible scale,” an official said.
One official noted that the G7 nations will also discuss the problems with China’s practice of forced labor in Xinjiang.
“The point is to send a wake-up call that the G7 is serious about defending human rights and that we need to work together to eradicate forced labor from our products,” the official said.
Story cited here.
