The US risks compounding the mistake it made by not joining a new China-backed Asian infrastructure bank if Republicans in Congress go through with a threat to shut down the country’s export credit agency, GE’s top international executive has warned.
John Rice, who oversees GE’s international operations as the industrial giant’s vice-chairman, told the Financial Times in an interview he believed that Washington’s decision not to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member alongside China had been a mistake.
But he said he was also concerned about the current push by Republicans not to renew funding for the US Export-Import Bank, led by president Fred Hochberg, which is due to run out of money in June.