Joe Biden says US needs major infrastructure plan to keep pace with China
- US president says his phone conversation with Xi Jinping lasted ‘two straight hours’
- ‘If we don’t get moving they’re going to eat our lunch,’ Biden tells lawmakers during White House meeting
China is threatening to outcompete the United States on infrastructure and public transport, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday, as he sought support from lawmakers for a spending bill for US upgrades.
Addressing reporters in the Oval Office before a closed-door meeting with senators on infrastructure spending, Biden pointed in particular to China’s extensive high-speed rail network and efforts to develop clean energy alternatives to power cars.
“They’re investing billions of dollars in dealing with a whole range of issues that relate to transportation, the environment and a whole range of other things,” Biden said. “So we just have to step up.”
“If we don’t get moving they’re going to eat our lunch,” Biden said.
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Joe Biden says China will ‘eat our lunch’ on infrastructure
While Republicans seized on those comments as evidence that Biden would fail to hold Beijing accountable, the early weeks of his presidency have not seen a de-escalation of bilateral tensions that rose during the Trump administration.