The BUILD Act enjoyed bipartisan support in the Congress because it represents to many in the development policy community a smarter, more modern way to advance development objectives. The new development financing agency it creates will also provide an alternative to China’s aggressive financing of infrastructure projects in developing markets.
At the same time the United States is considering cutting funding for diplomacy and development by 30 percent, China doubled its diplomacy budget over the last five years, proposing to increase its foreign affairs budget by 15 percent in 2018 alone.
The attractiveness of the U.S. market for FDI reflects the size and strength of the U.S. economy as well as the longstanding U.S. commitment to open markets and the rule of law. The vast majority of FDI occurs on a regular basis in every U.S. state across sectors including manufacturing, financial, and information technologies. But there are cases when foreign investment might carry security implications.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees that no person may be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” But what we take for granted in the United States isn’t always the case when doing business abroad.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is usually measured in the millions, billions, and trillions. In this Cambodian shoe factory, the value to workers and their community can be measured every 374.41 seconds.
The operations of majority-owned U.S. affiliates added $869.1 billion to the U.S. economy in 2014 and employed 6.4 million American workers. They are heavy traders as well, accounting for an astounding 26 percent of total U.S. exports of goods in 2013, and 30.3 percent of imports of goods.
Public debate over whether to continue to operate the U.S. Export-Import Bank has less to do with how its run than who it’s run for. The companies using its services range from the titans of industry including Boeing, GE, and Caterpillar, to small firms across the United States that literally set up shop on Main Street.
With $373 billion invested in our economy, it’s no wonder that Japan has an interest in maintaining close economic relations and seeing the U.S. economy succeed. When Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with President Trump this week, Abe is expected to present his “U.S.-Japan Growth and Employment Initiative,” a gesture that reflects that commitment.
Shortly after his election in November, President-elect Donald Trump announced he made good on one of the promises of his campaign – to save jobs at a Carrier plant in Indiana that had been slated to move to Mexico. Trump’s announcement was great news for the Carrier employees who are keeping their jobs but it also perpetuates some misconceptions about where companies choose to locate and why and what it takes to bring back jobs to the United States.
In the 1980s, the southern Chinese coastal city of Shenzhen was not much more than a small fishing village, home to some 30,000 hearty souls eking out a living barely above the subsistence level.