US to Offer Alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative

PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND - U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration said it will announce an infrastructure financing mechanism for low- and middle-income countries, designed to rival China's Belt and Road Initiative.

The initiative, called "Build Back Better for the World," will be launched Saturday with partners at the G-7 Summit in Cornwall, England. It will be “values driven, transparent and sustainable,” according to a senior administration official. "We believe we will beat the BRI by offering a higher-quality choice and we'll offer that choice with self-confidence about our model that reflects our shared values," a second senior administration official said. The official said the “B3W” initiative, as it is called by its acronym, aims to mobilize the private sector to invest and fulfill tens of trillions of dollars of infrastructure financing needs in the developing world, while meeting labor, environmental and transparency standards.