Biden announces $200B U.S. investment in global infrastructure at G7 summit

[Hydrogen]

June 26 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden on Sunday announced the United States will contribute $200 billion to a global infrastructure initiative during a summit with the leaders of the Group of Seven.

The United States committed to provide $200 billion to the program throughout the next five years in combination with contributions from other G7 members for an overall target of $600 billion.

"Developing countries often lack the essential infrastructure to help navigate global shocks like a pandemic, so they feel the impacts more acutely and they have a harder timer recovering in our deeply connected world," Biden said in remarks at the summit. "That's not just a humanitarian concern. It's an economic and a security concern for all of us."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the goal of the program was to present a "positive investment impulse to the world to show our partners in the developing world that they have a choice."

The effort comes as China has spent nearly a decade investing in infrastructure in Africa and Asia, including financing for projects such as seaports and 5G wireless networks through its Belt and Road Initiative.

Biden did not explicitly mention China during his remarks but said that when "democracies do all that we can offer" they can triumph over autocracies and offer "better options for people around the world."

"This isn't a charity. It's an investment that will deliver returns for everyone, including the American people, the people of all our nations. It will boost all of our economies and give a chance for us to share our positive vision for the future," said Biden.

Biden earlier met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as they "underlined their commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity" as well as continued efforts to provide Ukraine with support to defend against Russia's invasion, according to a White House readout of the meeting.

"The leaders also discussed efforts to alleviate the impacts of Russia's war in Ukraine on global food and energy security," according to the readout.

"The president welcomed Germany's historic commitment to significantly boost defense spending and meet its NATO commitments, which will strengthen the Alliance's long-term deterrence and defense posture."

In brief remarks before the meeting, Biden and Scholz said that the nations will "continue working on the economic challenges" each faces while standing together against Russia's aggression in Europe.

Biden and his G7 counterparts are expected to discuss issues with the global economy such as energy security and the food crisis during the summit's first session Sunday, a senior administration official said on a press call.

Biden and other G7 leaders will "continue to work to hold Putin accountable," the senior administration official said, while the United States, Britain, Canada and Japan announced they have banned the import of Russian gold, which is Moscow's largest non-energy export at about $15.47 billion last year.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the move in a statement, saying it will directly affect Russian oligarchs and "strike at the heart of Putin's war machine."

"Putin is squandering his dwindling resources on this pointless and barbaric war," Johnson said. "He is bankrolling his ego at the expense of both the Ukrainian and Russian people.

"We need to starve the Putin regime of its funding. The UK and our allies are doing just that."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department is expected to make the formal determination to prohibit the import of new gold into the United States on Tuesday.

The senior U.S. administration official said that the G7 is expected to take a "series of steps" on top of the gold ban that are "designed to increase pressure" on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We think that the step forward that's being taken with gold is a very important illustration of the additional steps that we expect to be taken now and in the weeks ahead," the senior administration official said on the call.

"This is a key export, a key source of revenue, a key alternative for Russia, in terms of their ability to transact in the global financial system."

When asked to discuss whether Russia will be able to evade the measure, the senior administration official said that an "ongoing area of focus" for the G7 has been to identify and block areas "where evasion risk is becoming more prominent."



https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/biden-announces-200b-us-investment-in-global-infrastructure-at-g7-summit/ar-AAYSxJV

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$200 billion to help infrastructure in developing nations and fight Putin in ukraine.

Biden and other G7 leaders will "continue to work to hold Putin accountable," the senior administration official said, while the United States, Britain, Canada and Japan announced they have banned the import of Russian gold, which is Moscow's largest non-energy export at about $15.47 billion last year.

It appears crackdowns on gold and precious metals are also coming. To fight Putin.

Could commodities shipments also be affected?

Bitcoin doesn't suffer from transportation hardships affecting precious metals or commodities. Could this signal a bullish trend for BTC.

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[avikz]

Not great! It's time to cash in the investment I have in gold. If Russian gold is banned in some major economies, an immediate supply surge is coming in the other nations which will push the price lower for short to mid term.

Also if war doesn't end shortly, more sanctions and series bans are coming towards Russia. Other commodities may very well be affected.

I don't know what the future holds but it makes complete sense to invest in bitcoin when the price is low because that's a truly global asset immune from such bans and restrictions.

[bittraffic]

These kind of global infrastructure projects should have been planned a long time ago but to share a quote from a diplomat/Council on Foreign Relations

The Summit of the Americas looks to be a debacle, a diplomatic own goal. The US has no trade proposal, no immigration policy, & no infrastructure package. Instead, the focus is on who will & will not be there. Unclear is why we pressed for it to happen.

The problem with US is that there is just too much of foreign diplomacy thinking whats good for US is good for all countries.
China had been building infrastructures in different countries in Asia, East Europe, South Africa and invested on Middle east for that Belt and Road Initiative they have.  $200B is not going to be enough to counter the influence of Beijing because its very wide already. The countries that are part of it trust China more than EU. This Belt and Road Initiative didn't consider the South America a priority for the overseas investment but over 25 out of the 31 countries in Central and South America have partnered with China on infrastructure projects for economic development.

Well banning gold I guess can hurt but this will be bullish for BTC, less gold supply will make BTC an alternative for the investors.

[fiulpro]

Considering the fact that the Russian government is also linking bitcoins to be extremely essential during this period and is allowing the mining, regulating it, I do think that it is safe to say that bitcoins might be used as a two edged sword. Would that be good ? What can we expect? All these questions might be a bit tricky. World can continue the shipments undoubtedly if they leave the Russia out of the picture but definitely evaluating the price won't be a good idea, the price of grains, wheat, oil would ofc rise, considering how the Russians are stealing Grains and taking it back, they would rather go forth by cutting the supply, all the commodities are secondary. Bitcoins might be extremely volatile since it would be used by people to send/Receive stuff and can be used as a hedge against sanctions.

[Zlantann]

Good morning the United States of America!! I think it might be a little bit too late for them. Russia and China have already penetrated the infrastructural, economical, social and economic sectors of most developing nations of the world. Trump was busy promoting selfishness and counter productive nationalism when he left the world politics and focused on only America. Feeling abandoned these nations ran to China and they gave them the assistance they desired. If the West and US have open kindheartedly and liberally invested in most developing nations, Russian oil and gas would have been easily replaced by these nations. But this investment is a welcomed development but the funds should be monitored to ensure that they are judiciously utilized and don't end up in the personal pockets of corrupt leaders and their Western cronies.       

[Husires]

I think that such a statement is intended more by China, as the United States is trying to regain its leadership, especially while maintaining the likes of the seven giants, most of whom are in those countries.
In general, if this quantity has been well studied, it may be a reason to move away from stagnation.

[Captain Corporate]

This "sounds" like a good pledge and I welcome it, but also with a grain of salt, why? Well simple reason is the fact that when USA decides to invest money somewhere, I am scared that they ALWAYS want a return. When was the last time USA did anything that was just for the good of the world and not for their own benefit? I seriously can't remember a single time. So I am sorry if they say that they will help everyone and not expect anything. It was probably WWII that they did something without expecting any return, that seems like the last time. Ever since then, all of these "investments" resulted with those nations getting "better" in the long run of course, but also being indebted so much that they live a better life that is a rat race which USA seems to deem better than freedom but poverty together.

[edgycorner]

On the surface, it seems like a generous initiative. Until he mentioned china and turned it into a pissing contest.
US will definitely use this to build strategic alliances with developing countries and sell more coca cola(lol) to boost their own GDP in turn.
Here comes freedom aka democracy in countries that are already at peace. More work for CIA too, to usurp local leaders and start civil wars. Nice job Biden.

[Hispo]

This news confuse me a little bit, I had read that Mr.Biden was facing a quite low rate of approval/popularity among the USA people.
I would have guessed that his administration would have tackled this problem investing a sustancial quantity of money to relieve the economical problems in his country. So I dont quite get this move of 200$ billion.

Or perphaps Mr.Biden has already fixed a budget for the internal US economy, to fight the problems of the common citizen?
Does any USA resident have any information on this that can share with me?

[Darker45]

In my view, the US has to step up. This is long overdue. They're already lagging behind in this area of competition. China has done so much lending all over the world. They've already built so much, from airports to ports to bridges to roads and highways to communication networks and all. China's traps are already set in all continents of the world. And where these loans are granted and these projects built, China is already holding them by the neck. The US needs to do a lot of catching up.