Japan spends just fraction of US and Europe on post-COVID economy

TOKYO -- As the U.S. and Europe ready robust spending plans to transform their economies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Japan is instead taking a far more modest approach that lacks a blueprint for the future, an approach that possibly threatens its global competitiveness.

The American Jobs Plan proposed by President Joe Biden calls for spending $2 trillion over eight years to build infrastructure and combat climate change, though any such legislation remains under negotiation in Congress. The European Union looks to spend 1.8 trillion euros ($2.1 trillion), a sum that includes a coronavirus recovery fund.