How Trump's trade war gets Xi's Belt and Road project back on track

China’s Belt and Road Initiative is seeing a revival lately, after a year of rumblings from developing nations that President Xi Jinping had set them a debt trap in the guise of funding massive infrastructure projects.

In the first half of this year, Commerce Ministry data show, Beijing signed about $64 billion in new, mostly construction contracts, a jump of 33% from 2018. Back then, Malaysia was complaining of deals reached under a scandal-stricken ousted leader and Indonesia was gearing up for elections in which both sides played up nationalist credentials.

And now? Emerging markets are coming back to the negotiating table.