The United States and its allies are working to expand the availability of high-quality infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
Major developments, including the Covid-19 pandemic and China’s acceleration of its digital infrastructure push, have heightened the stakes of the global infrastructure challenge for U.S. interests and the necessity of fashioning not merely a response, but its own strategy.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the acceleration of China’s digital infrastructure push have heightened the necessity of developing a comprehensive U.S. infrastructure strategy. The U.S. has taken several important steps toward fashioning its own positive vision for global infrastructure, but critical work remains.
The need for greater digital connectivity will be at the forefront of many nations’ agendas following the Covid-19 pandemic. In the U.S., deliberations are underway about a $2 trillion infrastructure program that, if well-designed, could provide a once-in-a-century opportunity for the U.S. to reaffirm its global leadership in the digital infrastructure of the future.
The Blue Dot Network (BDN)—an effort by the United States, Japan, and Australia to promote high-quality global infrastructure—holds promise and should be encouraged, but many unanswered questions about its implementation will need to be addressed for the initiative to achieve its desired impact.
The European Chamber describes the role of European business in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), suggests ways the initiative can become more inclusive, and recommends areas where the EU can both complement the BRI and develop its own connectivity strategy into a credible alternative.