Sen. Menendez Introduces New Legislation on Economic Statecraft
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Speaker: Robert Menendez, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
ALI hosted a discussion with Senator Menendez regarding his new legislation, the Economic Statecraft for the 21st Century Act. Senator Menendez focused on how U.S. economic tools have not changed to address changes in world order and address national security concerns. He introduced his economic statecraft bill, which seeks to directly address competition with China, protect Taiwan, and reassert U.S. values globally. Senator Menendez framed the global order not in terms of a bipolar choice between the U.S. and China, but between authoritarian governance and democratic values. The bill has two parts:
Confronting the anticompetitive nature of China’s economic coercion, including by establishing a Presidential task force to cite cases of economic coercion, developing a playbook for other countries when dealing with Taiwan, driving transparency in what countries owe China if applying for U.S. aid, and deepening coordination with allies to build supply chains, among other measures.
Competing in global infrastructure, including by funding the Build Back Better World initiative, driving near-shoring and domestic production, appointing an assistant secretary for energy security and clean energy production, creating a clean energy development fund, and working with allies on AI deployment, among other measures.
Both a copy of the Senator's new legislation as well as a section by section summary are available. The Senator's prepared remarks can be read here, or a recording viewed on ALI's YouTube channel.
