This post was written with China Trade Monitor intern Neil Jiang

Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation aimed at countering China's global economic influence and the development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in third countries.

In June, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) and Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) introduced the Thwarting Regional Adversary Investments Now (TRAIN) Act (H.R. 9092).

The TRAIN Act would direct the Secretary of State to help nonadversarial countries in South and Central Asia to analyze and mitigate any risk of accepting investment or lending from China and other foreign adversaries.

The bill also requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual report containing:

● An overview of the training provided to nonadversarial countries each fiscal year.

● An overview of each lending or legal agreement entered into during the prior fiscal year between a nonadversarial country and a foreign adversary in the region, including an analysis of any risk posed to the United States in such agreements.

The bill has since been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

In a press release, Rep. Fitzgerald said that “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." In this regard, the TRAIN Act "helps countries avoid walking into those traps in the first place."

Rep. Nunn said: "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." This has a direct impact on Iowa as "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." The bill "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."

In conjunction with the TRAIN Act, the two congressmen also introduced the Build Responsible Infrastructure Development for the Global Economy (BRIDGE) Act, which requires the government to submit a report to Congress within 180 days assessing the scope for Beijing to use the BRI to undermine the U.S.-led international order.

Targeting South and Central Asia underscores Washington's broader geopolitical priorities. In recent years, Beijing has rapidly deepened its economic ties across Central Asia and is funding major capital projects in the region across critical sectors, including cross-border connectivity, equipment manufacturing, green mining, and modern agriculture. Chinese financing and companies are also involved in major infrastructure projects, ranging from highways and ports to energy grids, across South Asia including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and the Maldives.