Do you know about the "US International Development Finance Corporation" and The Build Act

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The U.S. has launched a new strategy aimed at ramping up investment in Asia to vie with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s overseas infrastructure-building spree, as Beijing grapples with setbacks to its sprawling program.

But China has a head start—and a state-led model that makes it easier to finance and build on a large scale. Mr. Xi’s Belt and Road initiative has offered hundreds of billions of dollars for railways, bridges and ports in dozens of countries, expanding its strategic influence along the way.

Among the recipients are economies that have struggled to attract U.S. investment or adequate financing from multilateral banks.

The Trump administration is looking to change that by helping the private sector invest. In October, President Trump signed into law the Build Act, which creates a new development finance agency that offers loans, loan guarantees and political-risk insurance to private companies.

Mr. Trump said last year that this strategy would offer “strong alternatives to state-directed initiatives that come with many strings attached,” a reference to Beijing’s plan. The goal, proponents say, is to encourage businesses to invest in low-income countries and spur growth with projects that make economic sense.

The Build Act allows for $60 billion in U.S. development financing around the world under the new agency, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. The IDFC merges existing programs, doubles the current agency’s spending cap and has the authority to own equity stakes in projects, giving it more flexibility to choose and guide them.

The U.S. sees Belt and Road as a tool used by Beijing to advance its strategic and military interests. A number of Trump administration officials and U.S. lawmakers describe the risks of China using “debt traps” to gain control of sensitive infrastructure and “predatory economics” to undermine the autonomy of debt-burdened countries.

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