Trump Team Has Wealth-Fund Ambitions for Small Lending Agency
特朗普团队对小型贷款机构有财富基金的雄心

Donald Trump pledged to create “the greatest sovereign wealth fund of them all.” His advisers think one way to do it is a government agency they bet can help mobilize hundreds of billions from Wall Street.
唐纳德·特朗普承诺要创建“最伟大的主权财富基金”。他的顾问们认为，一种方法是设立一个政府机构，他们相信这可以帮助从华尔街动员数千亿资金。

Plans discussed for the US International Development Finance Corp. include how it could use investments to deliver on Trump’s ambitions for greater US influence over Greenland and Panama. Backers say the agency, which stands to get as much as $120 billion in capital of its own, will be able to trigger far larger geopolitically driven overseas commitments by some of America’s most powerful institutional investors.
讨论的美国国际开发金融公司计划包括如何利用投资实现特朗普对格林兰和巴拿马更大美国影响力的雄心。支持者表示，该机构有望获得高达 1200 亿美元的自有资本，将能够促使一些美国最强大的机构投资者进行更大规模的地缘政治驱动的海外投资承诺。

Advisers also see the DFC as a tool to remake how Washington delivers foreign aid and as a way to invest in strategic projects like data centers. It can also help secure supply chains for critical minerals and other resources, work that has begun under the Biden administration.
顾问们还将 DFC 视为重塑华盛顿提供外援的工具，以及投资于数据中心等战略项目的一种方式。它还可以帮助确保关键矿产和其他资源的供应链，这项工作在拜登政府任内已经开始。

The prospect of a more powerful DFC has set off a competition to lead it, according to people close to the process.
更强大的 DFC 前景引发了领导权的竞争，接近这一进程的人士表示。

Candidates include a former top executive at Bridgewater Associates and a former Republican congressman, the people said. Interviews have already taken place at Trump’s Palm Beach estate, they said.
候选人包括 Bridgewater Associates 的前高管和一位前共和党国会议员，这些人表示。面试已经在特朗普位于棕榈滩的庄园进行。

The incoming administration wants the agency to become a much more effective instrument to deploy US economic power, according to former officials, people close to the transition and candidates for the top job at DFC. That power would be amplified by bringing along investments into strategic corners of the world by major institutional players like BlackRock Inc.
新一届政府希望该机构成为更有效的工具，以发挥美国的经济实力，前官员、与过渡团队关系密切的人士以及 DFC 高层职位的候选人表示。这种力量将通过吸引像贝莱德公司这样的主要机构投资者在全球战略领域进行投资而得到增强。

Among those driving the conversation about using the DFC both more like a sovereign fund and as a tool to radically change America’s approach to foreign aid are Elon Musk and Stephen Feinberg, the billionaire co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, who Trump has nominated as deputy defense secretary, according to people close to the transition. Musk did not respond to a request for comment while a Cerberus spokesman did not comment.
在推动关于将 DFC 更像主权基金使用以及作为彻底改变美国对外援助方式工具的讨论中，有埃隆·马斯克和斯蒂芬·费因伯格，后者是 Cerberus Capital Management 的亿万富翁联合创始人，特朗普提名他担任副国防部长，消息来源接近过渡团队。马斯克没有回应置评请求，而 Cerberus 的发言人也未作评论。

The Trump transition didn’t respond to a request for comment.
特朗普过渡团队未对评论请求作出回应。

A relative minnow in traditional Washington power games, the DFC was created by Congress during the first Trump administration as a tool for the US to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative and other efforts to build influence in the developing world.
在传统华盛顿权力游戏中相对较小的 DFC 是由国会在特朗普政府第一任期内创建的，作为美国对抗中国“一带一路”倡议及其他在发展中国家建立影响力努力的工具。

Since then, it has drawn growing interest from Wall Street and bipartisan support as a way for the US to finance and invest in strategic projects overseas.
自那时以来，它引起了华尔街日益增长的兴趣和两党支持，成为美国为海外战略项目融资和投资的一种方式。

The DFC already has a portfolio of $49 billion in commitments, $12.1 billion of which came in fiscal 2024 alone. Among the likely changes under Trump is a shift away from investments in climate-related and other traditional development projects in favor of a harder-nosed focus on strategic mining and other resource deals, according to people close to the planning.
DFC 已经拥有 490 亿美元的承诺投资组合，其中 121 亿美元仅在 2024 财年就已到位。根据接近规划的人士，特朗普政府下可能的变化之一是，从气候相关和其他传统发展项目的投资转向更加务实的战略矿业和其他资源交易。

Bipartisan plans in Congress call for its lending capacity to be doubled to $120 billion and for it to be given a broader mandate to invest not only in low-income countries but in any nations of geopolitical interest.
国会两党计划呼吁将其贷款能力翻倍至 1200 亿美元，并赋予其更广泛的任务，不仅投资于低收入国家，还投资于任何具有地缘政治利益的国家。

According to people familiar with the discussions, Trump advisers are also examining whether to increase DFC’s resources by using funding from the Pentagon or USAID, the much larger institution overseeing traditional foreign aid.
根据熟悉讨论的人士透露，特朗普的顾问们也在考虑是否通过使用来自五角大楼或美国国际开发署（USAID）的资金来增加 DFC 的资源，后者是负责传统对外援助的更大机构。

With a staff of only around 700 people, the DFC isn’t big enough to have drawn public attention from Trump. But people close to the transition said the president-elect has been involved in conversations over using it as a vehicle to invest in mines and other projects and to work closely with the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency to build up reserves of critical minerals.
DFC 的员工仅约 700 人，规模不足以引起特朗普的公众关注。但接近过渡团队的人士表示，特朗普当选总统已参与讨论将其作为投资矿山和其他项目的工具，并与五角大楼的国防后勤局密切合作，以建立关键矿物的储备。

The leading candidates to head the DFC include David Bohigian, a former senior manager at Bridgewater Associates, George King III, a Florida investment banker, and Ted Yoho, a former Florida congressman who co-sponsored the law that created the DFC, according to people close to the Trump transition and people familiar with the discussions.
据接近特朗普过渡团队的人士和熟悉讨论的人士透露，领导 DFC 的主要候选人包括前桥水公司高级经理大卫·博希根、佛罗里达州投资银行家乔治·金三世，以及前佛罗里达州国会议员特德·约霍，他是共同发起创建 DFC 法律的议员之一。

Yoho said in an interview that the DFC needs an expanded mandate to invest beyond the low-income countries it is limited to now. Even if Trump isn’t able to realize his hopes of creating a sovereign wealth fund, he said, the DFC could take up at least the investment role.
Yoho 在一次采访中表示，DFC 需要扩展其授权，以便投资于目前所限的低收入国家之外。他说，即使特朗普无法实现创建主权财富基金的希望，DFC 至少可以承担投资的角色。

“Maybe he’ll use it to buy the Panama Canal,” Yoho joked. He quickly added that he actually supports Trump’s ideas to buy either Greenland or the canal. “It sounds crazy. But if he can pull that off on either one of those, or both of them, that would be as significant as buying Alaska or the Louisiana Purchase.”
“也许他会用它来购买巴拿马运河，”约霍开玩笑说。他迅速补充道，他实际上支持特朗普购买格林兰或运河的想法。“这听起来很疯狂。但如果他能成功购买其中一个，或者两个都买下来，那将和购买阿拉斯加或路易斯安那购地一样重要。”

Other candidates to head the DFC include Sean Cairncross, a lawyer who led the Millennium Challenge Corporation during the first Trump administration, and Ray Washburne, a Texas real estate investor who led the DFC’s more modest predecessor agency, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the people said.
其他候选人包括肖恩·凯恩克罗斯，他是一名律师，在特朗普政府的第一任期内领导了千年挑战公司；还有雷·沃什本，他是一位德克萨斯州的房地产投资者，曾领导过 DFC 的前身机构——海外私人投资公司。

Yoho confirmed that he’s interviewed for the job. Bohigian and King declined to comment and Cairncross and Washburne didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Yoho 确认他已经面试了这个职位。Bohigian 和 King 拒绝发表评论，而 Cairncross 和 Washburne 没有回应评论请求。

Sovereign wealth funds have traditionally been used by countries to invest export revenues for the benefit of their citizens. But those who talk about the DFC as a possible alternative to a US wealth fund see a tool of geopolitical influence.
主权财富基金传统上被各国用来投资出口收入，以惠及其公民。但那些将 DFC 视为美国财富基金可能替代品的人则认为这是一个地缘政治影响的工具。

Setting up an American equivalent would require action by Congress. Traditionally, sovereign funds are financed by revenues from natural resources and other exports and therefore the products of countries that have current account surpluses unlike the US, though states like Alaska and Texas operate equivalents.
设立一个美国等效的主权财富基金需要国会的行动。传统上，主权财富基金的资金来源于自然资源和其他出口的收入，因此是那些拥有经常账户盈余的国家的产品，而美国并不具备这种情况，尽管阿拉斯加州和德克萨斯州等州运营着类似的基金。

Among the ideas that Trump and his transition team have discussed is using DFC to fund purchases of assets important to national security, like copper mines and critical minerals stockpiles, according to the people familiar with the discussions.
特朗普及其过渡团队讨论的想法之一是利用 DFC 为国家安全重要资产的购买提供资金，例如铜矿和关键矿物储备，知情人士透露。

The transition team has pitched the idea of giving the DFC or the US Export-Import Bank the same powers as the Defense Logistics Agency, which manages stockpiles of raw materials critical to national security, but on a bigger scale. The DFC, they say, could act as the decision maker and be funded partly out of the Pentagon budget to bid against China and other competitors for assets like mines. The plan is said to be backed by Trump’s incoming national security adviser, China hawk Michael Waltz. A spokesman for Waltz did not respond to requests for comment.
过渡团队提出了将发展金融公司（DFC）或美国进出口银行赋予与国防后勤局相同权力的想法，后者管理对国家安全至关重要的原材料储备，但规模更大。他们表示，DFC 可以作为决策者，并部分从五角大楼预算中获得资金，以便与中国和其他竞争对手争夺矿山等资产。该计划据说得到了特朗普即将上任的国家安全顾问、中国鹰派人物迈克尔·沃尔茨的支持。沃尔茨的发言人未对此发表评论的请求作出回应。

Details of the plan are still in flux, but the conversations reveal the unorthodox approach Trump and his transition team are willing to take as they mull how to combat China in the race for everything from lithium to lasers to mines.
计划的细节仍在变化中，但谈话揭示了特朗普及其过渡团队在考虑如何在从锂到激光再到矿产的竞争中对抗中国时，愿意采取的非传统方法。

Even if those ambitions don’t come to fruition, other people close to the Trump team say, the DFC can become a much more aggressive investor and national security tool.
即使这些雄心未能实现，特朗普团队的其他人表示，DFC 仍然可以成为一个更具攻击性的投资者和国家安全工具。

“The DFC has to function almost like a private equity fund. This is how the sovereign funds throughout the world work,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, a transition adviser named by Trump as special envoy to Latin America who was involved in the DFC’s creation while at the Treasury Department in the first Trump term. “It needs to be focused on strategic assets, strategic US interests throughout the world. And by the way, these deals should be bankable and provide a return to the American taxpayer.”
“DFC 必须几乎像一个私募股权基金一样运作。这是全球主权基金的运作方式，”毛里西奥·克拉弗-卡罗内说，他是特朗普任命的拉丁美洲特使，曾在特朗普第一任期内参与 DFC 的创建。“它需要专注于战略资产和全球战略美国利益。顺便提一下，这些交易应该是可融资的，并为美国纳税人提供回报。”

DFC has bipartisan support for reauthorization when its current spending mandate expires in October. Bills circulating in Congress would double its current $60 billion investment cap and address an accounting ruling that has stymied its ability to take equity stakes in projects.
DFC 在其当前支出授权于十月到期时获得两党的支持以进行重新授权。国会中流传的法案将把其目前的 600 亿美元投资上限翻倍，并解决一项阻碍其在项目中获得股权的会计裁定。

The incoming administration backs removing that constraint on equity investments, with doing so seen as critical to boosting DFC’s reach. But lifting it may still face opposition from conservatives in Congress.
新一届政府支持取消对股权投资的限制，认为这样做对扩大 DFC 的影响力至关重要。但解除这一限制仍可能面临国会保守派的反对。

Robert Mosbacher, the Texas energy executive who led the DFC’s predecessor under President George W. Bush, said he backed using the agency more like a sovereign wealth fund. But doing that would also mean being willing to embrace more risk.
罗伯特·莫斯巴赫，曾在乔治·W·布什总统任内领导 DFC 前身的德克萨斯州能源高管表示，他支持将该机构更像主权财富基金来使用。但这样做也意味着愿意接受更多风险。

“The more risk they take, the more private capital they will mobilize,” Mosbacher said.
“他们承担的风险越大，动员的私人资本就会越多，”莫斯巴赫说。