Biden warns China will “eat our lunch” on infrastructure spending

Biden warns China will “eat our lunch” on infrastructure spending

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image captionSide view of Joe Biden giving a speech

US President Joe Biden has warned that China will "eat our lunch“ if America doesn't "step up“ its infrastructure spending.

Mr Biden was speaking on Thursday with a group of senators about the need to upgrade infrastructure in the US.

His warning comes the day after his first phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

On the call, Mr Xi took a hard line on human rights saying a confrontation would be a disaster for both countries.

Mr Biden made the comments after meeting with members of the Environment and Public Works committee.

"If we don't get moving, they are going to eat our lunch,“ President Biden told senators.

"They're investing billions of dollars dealing with a whole range of issues that relate to transportation, the environment and a whole range of other things. We just have to step up.“

During the campaign, Mr Biden proposed spending $2tn (£1.45tn) over four years to create jobs and invest in clean energy infrastructure.

A widely cited American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) "report card“ from 2017 gave the country's infrastructure a grade of "D+“.

The ASCE estimated that the total "infrastructure gap“ needed $2tn by 2025