President Joe Biden said on Thursday the US railway and automobile industries had to move fast to match new initiatives in China, warning that Beijing will otherwise "eat our lunch."
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2021) President Joe Biden said on Thursday the US railway and automobile industries had to move fast to match new initiatives in China, warning that Beijing will otherwise "eat our lunch."
Relaying the gist of his two-hour phone call with President Xi Jinping from the previous night, Biden told reporters that China already has "a major new initiative on rail" and their automobile industry is "already there and so is their labor."
"I'm telling you if we don't get moving, they're going to eat our lunch," Biden said.
The US president said China has been making massive investments in projects that relate to transportation and the environment, among others.
"We just have to step up," Biden said.
With respect to Beijing's railway initiatives, Biden said China already has "a rail that moves at 225 miles an hour in the East" he said.
In addition, the Chinese automobile industry was also progressing quickly, along with its labor force, Biden said.
"They're working very hard to try to move into a position where they end up being a source of a new way in which to power automobiles," he added.
Biden said he had assembled a group of lawmakers from relevant transportation sectors, who were with him at Thursday's news conference, to figure out "how we begin this."
"I've laid out what I think we have to do and what should be doing," Biden said.
The US automotive industry has been struggling to regain sales since a 38 percent year-on-year plunge in demand in March 2020 at the height of the coronavirus outbreak.
On the railway front, the United States still has the largest national rail market in the world, mostly made up of freight.
