President Joe Biden rebooted his effort to counter China’s flagship trade-and-infrastructure initiative after an earlier campaign faltered, enlisting the support of Group of Seven leaders at their summit in Germany.
“When democracies demonstrate what we can do –all that we have to offer – I have no doubt that we’ll win that competition every time,” Biden said during an event on the sidelines of the summit. The US would contribute $200 billion in total though it’s unclear what the split would be between private and public sector funding, and how the government plans to convince companies to take part.to crop up under the initiative’s latest incarnation, in part as the G7 prioritises other issues such as taming inflation and dealing with the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Expectations have already been tempered. While it’s pitched as a direct alternative to President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road program, the US official noted it would be unrealistic to compare the two dollar-for-dollar. Each partner country wants to put its own branding on the partnership, but all would operate under the PGII umbrella.