\n<\/p>\n
China is winning a global infrastructure war that most Americans don\u2019t even know is being fought. Over the past decade, Beijing has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into roads, ports, railways, and power plants across Africa, the Balkans, and beyond through its Belt and Road Initiative.<\/p>\n
The pitch sounds generous. The reality is a debt trap: host countries borrow at steep terms, surrender strategic assets when they can\u2019t repay, and watch Chinese workers build Chinese-designed projects using Chinese materials. China builds a port in Sri Lanka, for example, the country defaults, and suddenly Beijing controls<\/a> a strategic node in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in Africa, Chinese state-backed firms have secured mining rights, agricultural land, and telecommunications infrastructure in exchange for loans<\/a> that many nations will spend generations repaying.<\/p>\n It\u2019s time for America to offer a better deal.<\/p>\n The United States cannot cede this ground. The Balkans are a gateway into Europe \u2014 one China has been quietly prying open<\/a> for years. Africa is home to the fastest-growing populations and economies on the planet. The nations in these regions are not looking for handouts. They are looking for partners, and American companies can fill that role.<\/p>\n The good news is we don\u2019t need a government-run megaproject to compete. America\u2019s greatest economic asset is its private sector. What we need is a framework that unleashes it.<\/p>\n A smart American infrastructure initiative \u2014 call it the\u00a0American Infrastructure Initiative\u00a0\u2014 would be private-sector led. To incentivize business development in these key frontier regions, the U.S. Export-Import Bank can provide loan guarantees to reduce operating risk, just as it has been doing for decades.<\/p>\n When American firms build abroad, American workers, engineers, manufacturers, and supply chains benefit at home. Construction contracts flow to U.S. companies. Technology exports support American jobs.<\/p>\n China\u2019s approach to infrastructure in Africa and the Balkans has followed a consistent playbook. Projects are designed in China, financed by Chinese state banks at non-negotiable terms, built by Chinese workers imported specifically for the project, and equipped with Chinese technology that locks host countries into Chinese ecosystems for decades.<\/p>\n