The Trump administration’s ‘America First’ policy is an innately principled approach to empowering the American public to actualize a safer, more prosperous future for itself. Current presidential national security guidance, which prioritizes both advancing American influence and promoting American prosperity, emphasizes the need to pursue multilateral solutions to many of the United States’ most persistent national security threats—namely China. This Note will introduce one solution that has had little discussion, the BUILD Act, particularly as an impetus to advance U.S. national security strategy priorities through development finance tools. Specific components of the current National Security Strategy will be analyzed with regard to China’s growing, tragic economic influence in the developing world. Unlike China’s state-led infrastructure-investment scheme to advance national security, this Note next discusses why the BUILD Act is both a better alternative for developing countries seeking foreign direct investment as well as a force multiplier for U.S. national security interests. This Note concludes that U.S. policymakers and businesses can advance the rule of law by renegotiating trade agreements with partner countries and pressuring internal judicial reform needed to support U.S. foreign investment through BUILD Act activities, thus mitigating the effect of U.S. national security threats and ensuring better outcomes for host country partners and domestic firms.