The Treasury Department is moving forward with a rule that will add 59 military bases across 30 states to the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and increase the scope of transactions CFIUS can examine for land purchases near eight other military bases (see 2407090003). The rule, released this month in prepublication form, includes multiple bases that lawmakers for months have urged Treasury to add to its purview, including two near planned Chinese lithium battery and electric vehicle plants.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. will hold its third annual conference Nov. 19 in person at the Treasury Department, the agency announced. Previous conferences have featured keynote speeches and panel discussions with senior government and CFIUS officials (see 2309140005 and 2309150038). Event registration closes Nov. 6.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
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.