An obscure agency with ties to perhaps President Trump’s most senior adviser is tasked with countering China’s predatory lending programs and working with the Pentagon to move sensitive supply chains out of the communist regime’s control.
“They said, ‘Listen, this could be a great partnership,’” U.S. International Development Finance Corporation CEO Adam Boehler told the Washington Examiner, recalling his conversations with Pentagon leaders. Boehler is a healthcare entrepreneur whose relationship with Jared Kushner dates back to college. “So, when I think about the partnership between us and DOD, we obviously bring a lot of expertise because this is what we do around emerging countries.”
The agency helps U.S. companies take root in developing countries around the world. In theory, because it has the technical expertise to help U.S. and Western companies invest overseas, it has the know-how to help companies now operating in China move to the United States or elsewhere.
Beijing’s ability to freeze U.S. access to medical supplies manufactured by American companies in China underscored the national security stakes of the economic clash.
“The COVID-19 pandemic response has highlighted what DOD has always known, a strong domestic supply chain is critical for economic and national security,” Under Secretary of Defense Ellen Lord said Monday. “DOD is committed, in partnership with other federal agencies, to bring all tools available to support the response to COVID-19.”
The DFC’s role in that effort grew out of the administration’s scramble to get access to the medical supplies needed to weather the contagion in March. Boehler was pulled into the White House Coronavirus Task Force’s work to help find ventilators.
“I work on things with Jared closely when it’s relevant to Jared,” Boehler said. “And so some of what I do in DFC are relevant and touch on his portfolio, and some don’t.”
Kushner is a polarizing figure in the eyes of Washington’s professional class, but Boehler is respected even by skeptics of the president’s son-in-law. “No question he’s competent,” a close observer of the DFC said. “He’s probably one of the most competent people in the administration.”
Trump invoked the Korean War-era Defense Production Act that empowered him to order American companies to manufacture ventilators for coronavirus patients, a decision that Boehler said paid dividends for domestic healthcare and U.S. foreign policy. The administration ultimately had enough ventilator capacity to provide humanitarian assistance to foreign partners such as El Salvador.
“I’ve been involved with the president on a number of the head of state calls where we are able to provide ventilators to developing countries that need them,” Boehler said. “The lesson there was our strong manufacturing capabilities impact the United States and our allies in developing countries.”
David Adams