Ten Republican lawmakers asked the Treasury Department Oct. 17 to explain why the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. has apparently declined to review and block Chinese electric vehicle battery maker Gotion from building a plant near a military base in Michigan.

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., introduced legislation this week that would limit American outbound investment in Chinese technology and give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. more power to police Chinese investment in the U.S.

The Biden administration opposes a House bill that would permanently add the agriculture secretary to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review agricultural transactions (see 2409050011), the White House Office of Management and Budget said Sept. 11.

Four members of the House Financial Services Committee asked the Treasury Department last week for an update on the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan-based Nippon Steel, saying they’re concerned the Biden administration’s review of the deal may have been improperly influenced by politics.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., introduced a bill last week that would permanently add the agriculture secretary to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review agricultural transactions.

At least 22 states recently have approved legislation regulating foreign ownership of U.S. land, reflecting growing interest in addressing the potential national security and economic implications of such investments, the Congressional Research Service said in a new report this week.

The Treasury Department should make sure its investment screening regulations don’t unfairly discriminate against foreigners and should do more to curb a rise in “xenophobic” U.S. state and federal land laws, nonprofits told the agency and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. They criticized several bills that could place new investment restrictions on people from “countries of concern,” including China and Iran, and said they’re concerned CFIUS may not have the resources to manage its expanding jurisdiction.

The chair and ranking member of the House Select Committee on China, along with a bipartisan group of 53 representatives, filed an amicus brief last week in the suit against the TikTok ban to support the constitutionality of the ban (see 2406070023) (TikTok v. Merrick Garland, D.C. Cir. # 24-1113).

House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Reps. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, and Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., introduced a bill June 7 that would require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to notify Congress if CFIUS denied a member agency’s request to review a transaction.

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