Rebuilding America’s Global Economic Security Toolkit
The world is on fire with raging wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe and simmering tensions in Asia, Africa and Latin America as China’s economic expansionism threatens American political and economic interests abroad. These conflagrations underscore the urgency of rebuilding America’s global economic security toolkit. As a recent report by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition has crystallized: “Economic security is national security.”
As America begins a new fiscal year, the time for considering our economic security strategy is now. Over the coming months, the Trump Administration needs to make further progress in designing a new international assistance architecture that aligns with strategic objectives. Congress needs to come to an agreement on the FY2026 budget and reauthorizations for the State Department and the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), including addressing their roles in economic-security-focused international assistance. Billions of dollars of Congressionally allocated funds for foreign assistance that have been temporarily parked in various appropriations vehicles need to be programmed for their ultimate use. The cessation of geostrategically important projects earlier this year has left a void in countries around the world that China and other bad actors are filling, making all these tasks particularly time-sensitive.
America’s economic development assistance has often been a highly effective set of tools for building economic security: strengthening allies’ economies, opening markets for American exports and investment, improving the business and investment enabling environment, and creating jobs in developing countries to reduce migration pressure.
The American small business that I lead has seen this firsthand as we have implemented U.S. government assistance projects around the world for several decades – high-impact projects offering a roadmap for tools to build our economic security going forward.
In the Dominican Republic, we worked with the government and private sector to “nearshore” U.S. supply chains, bringing production closer to home, by streamlining regulations, building logistics, and better planning free trade zones (half of which are owned by U.S. companies). D.R. President Abinader and U.S. Secretary of State Rubio emphasized the importance of this work, creating American jobs at home and strengthening our economic ties with an ally.
In Angola, we helped U.S. company Africell bolster American leadership in fintech to counter China’s Digital Silk Road. Our work leveraged several million dollars in Africell investment. This initiative also supported development along the Lobito Corridor, crucial for exporting cobalt and copper from Africa to the U.S.—minerals China also seeks to control. Broad economic development initiatives in places from which or through which America seeks to export critical minerals build stability and local support for U.S. economic presence.
In the Philippines, we set up a training center to promote interoperability among private Asian telecom firms competing with China’s big state-linked telecom companies, under the Indo-Pacific Strategy, initiated during the first Trump Administration. Active engagement with East Asian private sectors creates trade opportunities for U.S. firms and counters China’s dominance in these economies. Telecom focus specifically addresses U.S. security concerns over the spread of Huawei and other Chinese telecom infrastructure.
In Vietnam, we promoted secure e-commerce through digital certificates of origin. In Bangladesh, we helped streamline customs administration. The U.S. is Vietnam’s second-largest trading partner after the P.R.C. and one of Bangladesh’s largest partners. Assisting countries in improving trade facilitation reduces trade costs and levels the playing field for American exporters.
Across several Pacific Island nations, we recommended strategies to strengthen government ability to manage public expenditures and improve tax systems, and in Kyrgyzstan, we helped the government assess and manage sovereign debt risks. Partnering with allies to get their fiscal houses in order enables them to move toward ending their reliance on donor support, and their dependence on and vulnerability to predatory Chinese lending.
In Moldova, we helped the National Bank strengthen systems and processes to crack down on money laundering in the financial sector, including by Russian criminal networks. Helping countries with financial-sector supervision increases access to finance for small businesses and the population while also combatting money laundering and terror financing.
As a small business ourselves, we understand the obstacles developing country entrepreneurs face—navigating regulations, accessing capital, expanding into new markets. American small businesses engaged in international assistance are one of our country’s greatest competitive advantages that China’s state-focused assistance simply can’t match.
A key American agency operating overseas is the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), providing lending, equity and political risk insurance. While recent proposals to scale up DFC investments are a great idea, increased spending in these areas alone cannot replace the other types of economic development international assistance described above. It is this combination of specific DFC investments plus broad improvement of the business climate that comprise a powerful economic security toolbox. Whether the economic development assistance function should be allocated to DFC, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, State Department or somewhere else is an important institutional issue to resolve.
For more than 60 years, from the Marshall Plan to rebuilding Japan, from South Korea’s rise to Eastern Europe’s transition to free markets, strategic U.S. investment in economic development assistance has consistently paid dividends in economic security, domestic prosperity and strengthened alliances. In today’s world, in which Beijing has poured over a trillion dollars into developing nations through its Belt and Road Initiative, the need for America to build out robust, effective economic security tools is as great as it has ever been.
David Snelbecker is CEO of International Development Group, a U.S. small business based in Northern Virginia that implements economic-focused U.S. international assistance projects. He also sits on the Board of the Small Business Association for International Companies. (SBAIC), an association of over 150 American small businesses serving the U.S. Government by implementing assistance programs globally.