Keep and wield EXIM as a strategic export-credit counter to China
The chapter’s counter-essay argues EXIM is essential additionality financing and the only U.S. sovereign-guarantee vehicle, and that abandoning export credit cedes strategic ground to China’s ECAs and Belt and Road—urging America not to leave the field.
Mandate
Mandate Ch. 23 (Export–Import Bank) — Jennifer Hazelton essay ‘The Case for the Export–Import Bank’: China weaponized export credit; U.S. is the only economy with heft to counter; leaving the U.S. without a functioning ECA resigns reduced geopolitical role and jobs; EXIM finances only when private sector will not/cannot (additionality), with taxpayer paid first; U.S. would be foolish to abandon this field of play.
Undo plan
1) If retaining EXIM, impose strict additionality audits so it does not subsidize deals private markets will fund.
2) Cap concentration among large corporate beneficiaries; raise SME and transformative-export performance.
3) Align China/CTEP goals with measurable outcomes—not mission creep into AI/quantum where commercial finance exists.
4) Maintain OECD-aligned transparency rather than race-to-the-bottom content rules.
5) Verify: competitiveness reports, exposure by borrower size, and independent additionality sampling.