President Joe Biden has made his choices for several senior positions at Treasury, including the agency’s top sanctions and foreign investment officials, Bloomberg reported April 30. Biden will nominate attorney Brian Nelson to be undersecretary of the Terrorism and Financial Intelligence office, which oversees the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and attorney Josh Berman to be assistant secretary overseeing Treasury’s work on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., according to the report.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for April 19-23 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
U.S. universities are opposing the Senate’s Strategic Competition Act of 2021 over a provision that would expand foreign investment screening to include foreign gifts over $1 million given to U.S. universities. In a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month, four academic groups said the expanded jurisdiction awarded to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. would subject “many gifts” received by colleges to a CFIUS review and would make it “harder” for colleges to conduct research.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed its comprehensive China bill with several amendments, sending a bill to the Senate floor that could update China-related sanctions, export controls and foreign investment reviews. Senators said they expect the Strategic Competition Act of 2021 -- which would authorize a host of measures to address trade and technology competition issues with China and expand the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (see 2104080066) -- to garner broad bipartisan support before the full Senate.
Despite more scrutiny from the U.S., Chinese foreign direct investment in North America grew by almost half in 2020 compared to 2019, according to an April 19 Baker McKenzie report. But trade and investment experts cautioned industry about placing too much stock in those numbers, saying two-way U.S.-China investment remains “very low” and Chinese firms are still wary about gaining approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.
Top Republicans on the Senate Judiciary, Finance and Banking committees asked the Treasury Department to brief them on how Treasury plans to handle foreign governments that try to evade U.S. investment screening tools. Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Crapo of Idaho and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania “remain concerned” that China and other foreign governments are attempting to evade reviews by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. “to undermine U.S. superiority in leading edge technologies,” they wrote in an April 13 letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. They asked the administration to provide a briefing by May 1 on how it will “approach and handle” CFIUS evasion attempts as well as any actions Treasury has already taken. Treasury didn't comment.
The U.S. will likely continue to update the regulations for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which has created some complications for industry, trade lawyers told the American Bar Association April 15. The recently revised regulations have also severely reduced incoming Chinese investments, which could have long-term implications, one lawyer said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security's decision to eliminate certain reporting requirements for encryption items (see 2103260019) should exempt a greater number of companies from filing mandatory declarations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., DLA Piper said in an April 6 post.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for March 29-April 2 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
A Delaware financial management company said it received approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to merge with another Delaware investment management company, according to its March 25 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Waddell & Reed Financial said it filed a voluntary notice to CFIUS on Jan. 28 regarding its planned merger with Macquarie Management Holdings. After a 45-day review period, CFIUS said March 22 that there were “no unresolved national security concerns with respect to the merger and its review” was completed, Waddell & Reed said. While CFIUS clearance “satisfies a certain condition to the closing of the merger,” the company added that other conditions still need to be met before the merger is completed.