US Export-Import Bank seeks more latitude to counter Belt and Road Initiative

Testifying before a supportive Congressional panel, the agency’s president asks for loosened restrictions to respond to Beijing’s export subsidies and finance

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Reta Jo Lewis, president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, testifies to the House Financial Services Committee in Washington on Thursday. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Robert Delaney

Published: 4:54am, 28 Jun 2024Updated: 5:36am, 28 Jun 2024

The US agency primarily tasked with countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative may be getting more firepower.

Testifying before a supportive House Financial Services Committee on Thursday, Reta Jo Lewis, president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Exim), called for loosened restrictions on its portfolio of loans to counter export subsidies and finance provided by Beijing.

Those outlays are conducted within Exim’s “China and Transformational Exports Programme”, established when Congress reauthorised the bank’s mandate in 2019. CTEP is also meant to “ensure the US continues to lead in 10 ‘transformational export areas’, including AI and semiconductors”.

The bank is the official export credit agency of the US, charged with easing the export of US goods and services.

As committee members asked what more the bank needed to facilitate Exim’s mandate, Lewis sought, among other measures, a carve-out that would eliminate Exim’s across-the-board 2 per cent default rate cap for CTEP loans.

“The default rate poses a significant challenge to Exim’s ability to support US exporters,” Lewis said.