Nunn, Fitzgerald Introduce Bills to Counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative

DES MOINES, IA - Representatives Zach Nunn (IA-03) and Scott Fitzgerald (WI-05) today introduced two bills aimed at countering the Chinese Communist Party's Belt and Road Initiative and strengthening America's economic and strategic leadership around the world.

The Thwarting Regional Adversary Investments Now (TRAIN) Act would help partner nations identify and mitigate the risks associated with Chinese-backed investment and lending before entering into agreements with Beijing. The Build Responsible Infrastructure Development for the Global Economy (BRIDGE) Act would establish a whole-of-government strategy to counter China's growing infrastructure influence campaigns.

"China has spent decades buying up the ports, power grids, and trade routes of developing nations, trapping them in debt and rigging the global market in their favor," said Rep. Nunn . "That hits Iowa directly: our farmers and manufacturers compete to feed and supply the world, and they can't win on a field Beijing is tilting in their own favor. Our bills would give the United States a coordinated, whole-of-government strategy to counter China's invest-to-control strategy of economic coercion, help partner nations walk away from a bad deal with Beijing, and keep the playing field fair for Iowa."

Since its launch in 2013, China's Belt and Road Initiative has grown into a nearly $1.4 trillion global infrastructure campaign spanning more than 150 countries. In 2025 alone, Belt and Road Initiative engagement reached a record $213.5 billion in construction contracts and investments, demonstrating Beijing's accelerating use of infrastructure financing to expand political influence, deepen economic dependence on China, and secure control over strategic assets abroad.

The implications extend beyond economics. The Pentagon's 2024 report on Chinese military power warns that Beijing is increasingly leveraging Belt and Road Initiatives to establish overseas military access, logistical networks, and strategic footholds that could disrupt U.S. military operations and threaten American interests. The ports and corridors China finances today become the supply lines and access points it leverages tomorrow.

"China has turned the Belt and Road Initiative into a weapon of economic coercion, building leverage through debt, controlling critical infrastructure, and pulling countries deeper into Beijing's orbit," said Rep. Fitzgerald . "The TRAIN Act helps countries avoid walking into those traps in the first place, and the BRIDGE Act ensures the United States is better positioned to address this challenge."

The TRAIN Act would direct the Department of State to provide training and technical assistance to government officials in non-adversarial countries across South and Central Asia, helping them evaluate and mitigate the legal and financial risks associated with investment and lending from China and other foreign adversaries. The legislation would also require annual reporting to Congress on foreign adversary agreements that could pose economic or national security risks to the United States.

The BRIDGE Act would require the Department of State, Department of Commerce, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and other relevant federal agencies to develop a coordinated government-wide strategy to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative. The legislation requires a formal assessment of how the CCP uses the Belt and Road Initiative to expand its economic and political influence worldwide and establishes measurable objectives to strengthen America's competitiveness and strategic engagement abroad.

These bills build on Rep. Nunn's broader efforts to counter the CCP's malign influence, including leading the Fortifying U.S. Markets from Chinese Military Aggression Act and the Neutralizing Unfair Chinese Subsidies Act , which seek to protect critical infrastructure and supply chains, strengthen America's competitiveness, and reduce vulnerabilities to CCP economic coercion.

Text of the TRAIN Act can be found here , and text of the BRIDGE Act can be found here .

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