Strategic Competition > Geoeconomic Statecraft
Strategic Infrastructure Finance
Building the Foundations of Economic Resilience and Strategic Alignment
“Infrastructure is not just a development tool—it is a geoeconomic instrument that shapes alliances, markets, and influence.”
Kennedy is a strong advocate for activating greater international infrastructure investment and for a stronger DFC - here with Ambassador Mark Green, Nisha Biswal - Deputy CEO of the DFC and Sadek Wahba.
🔹 Strategic Context
- This page is part of WISC’s Strategic Competition framework, applying geoeconomic statecraft through the STEAD model — integrating Security, Technology, Economics, Alliances, and Diplomacy — to secure U.S. leadership across critical domains.
Why Infrastructure Investment Matters
- Infrastructure investment has become a primary arena of strategic competition.
- Nations that deliver trusted, high-quality infrastructure—energy grids, digital networks, transportation corridors, and health systems—expand their influence, deepen partnerships, and reinforce open economic systems.
- Authoritarian regimes have weaponized infrastructure through predatory financing, surveillance technology, and debt dependency.
- Strategic infrastructure finance must now be seen as a critical instrument of national power and global system shaping.
Strategic Priorities for Infrastructure Investment
- Expand high-standard alternatives to authoritarian Belt and Road projects.
- Align infrastructure investment with trusted digital ecosystems and secure supply chains.
- Prioritize infrastructure that reinforces democratic governance and open-market principles.
- Mobilize private sector capital through public-private financing structures.
- Advance multilateral coordination through G7, DFC, and World Bank platforms.
Insights & Engagements
🏛️ Engaging Administration or Congress, 📰 Op-Ed / Article / Quoted ✍️ Policy Brief 👥 Roundtable / Event 🎤 Speaking / Moderating 🎥 TV/Video 🌐 Global
Bolstering the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
Strengthening Other U.S. Agencies Advancing Infrastructure Investment
Mobilizing Private Capital at Scale
- 👥 🇬🇧 London Roundtable - Activating Greater International Infrastructure - London - May 15, 2024 - Featured Adam Wang-Levine, Deputy Assistant U.S. Treasury Secretary
MDB and DFI Reform
- 👥 🇯🇵 Roundtable with Japan International Cooperation Agency President Akihiko Tanaka at the Wilson Center - September 19, 202
Countering China's & Belt and Road
Addressing National Strategic Priorities
- 🎤 Bolstering Energy Security through Infrastructure Technologies - Moderated Wilson Center Roundtable - April 3, 2024
Regional Focus & Global Engagement
- 🎤 PRC Challenges and Foreign Assistance Strategies in Euroasia - Panelist for Department of State Workshop - April 22, 2024
Closing Principle
Infrastructure is the conduit through which future commerce, connectivity, and influence will flow.
👉 Related Pages
🔷 Featured Insights
360° View of a US Sovereign Wealth Fund - Wilson Center Experts - February 13, 2025
International Infrastructure Projects: China's Investments Significantly Outpace the U.S., and Experts Suggest Potential Improvements to the U.S. Approach - GAO Report - Listed as a Contributor - September 12, 2024
Activating American Investment Overseas for a Freer, More Open World - Policy Brief with Dr. Jeff Kucik - March 5, 2024
Mobilizing Private Investment in International Infrastructure - Hosting Three Panels and Keynote Address at the Wilson Center - November 15, 2023
Reforming the Multilateral Development Banks for Global Structural Challenges in a Post-Pandemic World - Wilson Center Panel with former President of Peru Franciso Sagasti and Alexia Latortue, Assistant Secretary for International Trade and Development, US Department of the Treasury - July 19, 2023