n n n ‘. concat(e. i18n. t(“search. voice. recognition_retry”),’n
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden hosted leaders of the Americas at an economic summit Friday where he pledged to increase U. S. investment in the region as part of countering China’s influence.
The U. S. president did not mention China in particular in his opening remarks at the first Leaders’ Summit of the Americas, Partnership for Economic Prosperity. But Biden blatantly alluded to the country that has America’s biggest geopolitical competitor and has introduced progressive loans to China. countries in the Western Hemisphere.
“We need to make sure our closest neighbors know they have a genuine choice between debt-trapped international relationships and transparent, high-quality approaches to infrastructure and development,” Biden said. “By combining the U. S. government’s commitment to mitigating the threat to investment with the agility of personal sector financing, we can generate benefits for staff and families across the region. “
Other topics discussed at the summit include migration, chains of origin, and efforts aimed at environmental sustainability.
Along with Biden, they attended summits in Barbados, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Panama.
Friday’s occasion was announced last year at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. The focus on the industry comes as the festival has intensified between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies. Biden, a Democrat, has laid out government incentives to build infrastructure in the U. S. and for corporations to build new factories. But after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted global production and shipping, there were also efforts to diversify the industry and reduce dependence on Chinese production.
In 2022, the U. S. exported $1. 2 trillion worth of goods to other countries in the Western Hemisphere, according to the U. S. Trade Representative. It also imported $1. 2 trillion worth of goods from those countries, but most of this industry was with Canada and Mexico.
By contrast, the U. S. imported $562. 9 billion worth of goods from China last year.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen laid out the Biden administration’s goals in a speech Thursday at the Inter-American Development Bank. The U. S. needs to diversify its supply chains with “reliable partners and allies,” a strategy it says has “tremendous prospects for driving expansion in Latin America and the Caribbean. “
Yellen, who talks about her “friendshoring” strategy to increase the resilience of the home chain by working primarily with friendly countries rather than geopolitical rivals like China, laid out her vision for new U. S. investments in South America at the progression bank.
The Inter-American Development Bank, which is Latin America’s largest multilateral lender, would finance new projects through grants, loans, and new programs. The U. S. is the bank’s largest shareholder, with 30% of the voting rights.
Increasingly, U. S. officials are expressing considerations about China’s influence on the bank. Although the Asian superpower owns less than 0. 1% of voting rights, it has economic stakes in some of the bank’s 48 member countries.
Josh Boak and Fatima Hussein, Associated Press