Gallagher in The Hill on U.S. Development Bank Legislation
Kevin Gallagher, Professor of Global Development Policy and Director of the Global Development Policy Center at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, wrote a recent Op-Ed on new legislation to create a development bank in the United States.
Gallagher’s Op-Ed, entitled “BUILD Act Must Build in U.S. Values for Global Development Projects,” was published in The Hill on May 17, 2018.
From the text of the Op-Ed:
Earlier this year, the then-U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told African and Latin American countries to stop taking billions of dollars in financing from China for infrastructure, energy and industry.
Tillerson said Chinese finance “encourages dependency using opaque contracts, predatory loan practices, and corrupt deals that mire nations in debt and undercut their sovereignty, denying them their long-term, self-sustaining growth.”
Most foreign leaders defended their new relations with China, which is fast becoming the No. 1 trading partner and financier in both Africaand Latin America. Compare that to the stance of Trump administration, which has largely turned inward. In addition, recall the president allegedly referred to many of the nations as “s—hole countries.”
In a welcome move, the U.S. is now looking to put its money where its mouth is in the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development Act of 2018 (BUILD Act) proposal that is rapidly moving through Congress. In its current form however, the BUILD Act is inconsistent with America’s development finance standards, traditions and values.
Gallagher served on the U.S. Department of State’s Investment Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and the International Investment Division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. He has served as a visiting or adjunct professor at the Paul Nitze School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico; Tsinghua University in China; and the Center for State and Society in Argentina. You can follow him on Twitter @KevinPGallagher.