[welfare]

Pump them brakes, China
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/afric...africa-policy/

While the nation has been transfixed by the confirmation hearings of Judge Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the Supreme Court, Congress passed significant legislation on Africa that has attracted virtually no attention.

On October 3, the Senate passed the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development Act, better known as the BUILD Act. President Trump is expected to sign the legislation in the next several days. The BUILD Act could be the most significant U.S. initiative toward Africa in the Trump era.

For one, the legislation will transform the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) into the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC) with a budget of $60 billion, twice the size of OPIC’s current budget. Most importantly, the USIDFC will take equity positions in investments, something that OPIC never had authority to do. Equity investments have been essential to the support that Chinese and European development finance funds have provided to companies from their respective countries. The new agency is a much needed instrument of commercial diplomacy that the U.S. has been sorely lacking. Not only will it lead to more U.S. investment in Africa, which will be a stimulus to economic development across the continent, but it makes U.S. companies more competitive and reduces the risk in a growing market that is not well understood by American business.