Notwithstanding its competitive nature with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), special attention should be paid to the Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative proposed and led by the United States and endorsed by the other G7 members. The initiative aims to address the need to bounce back from the health and economic mayhem caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
On June 12, the White House issued a press release that contained a bit more details about this so-called “values-driven, high-standard and transparent infrastructure partnership led by major democracies” to help narrow the over $40-trillion infrastructure needs in the developing world. It said, “B3W will be global in scope, from Latin America and the Caribbean to Africa to the Indo-Pacific.”
Although credit should be given to the Biden administration as they say the current gap in infrastructure need is indeed global, it is worth noting that from the U.S. perspective, the statement shows that the priority here is the United States itself, not Latin America, Caribbean, Africa or the Indo-Pacific.
For example, right out of the city across the Potomac River into Virginia, the road condition on the George Washington Memorial Parkway is currently so deplorable that it would even put the great name of George Washington to shame. America desperately needs a revamp of its infrastructure, an issue that has stirred up much national attention ever since the early days of the Trump administration.
