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.
It’s unclear exactly how the Treasury Department will use information it receives as part of the notification requirements in its upcoming outbound investment regulations, lawyers said, warning that those notifications could present reputational and business risks for certain American investors in China, especially if members of Congress see them.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is increasingly requiring companies to enter into mitigation agreements before approving a deal, and those agreements are getting more complex, said a former senior government official who worked on CFIUS cases. And although some companies fear the ongoing CFIUS review of Japan’s Nippon Steel signals that the committee could be veering away from its traditional national security focus, the former official said he’s not expecting the Nippon Steel case to spark a trend of politically motivated reviews.
Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp., which is seeking to buy U.S. Steel, plans to refile its request for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to review the deal, a move that will give CFIUS more time to complete its work, a person familiar with the situation said Sept. 18.
House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., urged the Treasury Department this week to expand the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to include land purchases near Coast Guard facilities, Energy Department national laboratories, maritime ports and critical energy and telecommunications infrastructure.
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.
President Joe Biden is planning to block Japan-based Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel, a deal that has been under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., according to multiple reports. CFIUS appears to have concluded that national security concerns raised by the acquisition couldn’t be mitigated, the Washington Post reported Sept. 4. The White House has declined to comment but in a statement told the Post that CFIUS “had not yet transmitted its recommendation to the president,” the report said. Biden and multiple U.S. lawmakers have voiced opposition to the deal (see 2403150066 and 2405100026).
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.