For nearly 50 years, the US has been at a competitive disadvantage in the realm of commercial diplomacy. After the Marshall Plan, which was the gold standard in aligning commercial and development interests in the 1940s and 1950s, the US ceded leadership on development finance to multilateral institutions and stepped into the background.

This was a mistake, as it limited the tools available to US policymakers when engaging with an increasingly diverse set of countries in differing phases of development. The fast-moving, bipartisan Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (Build) Act, which passed the House last week, constitutes a major change in approach. If enacted, it will return the US to a competitive global footing in commercial diplomacy.

In both the House and Senate versions (co-introduced by Senators Bob Corker and Chris Coons, and Congressmen Ted Yoho and Adam Smith, the Build Act calls for the establishment of an International Development Finance Corporation that will have new, streamlined investment capabilities.