Trump administration backs bills to toughen foreign investment rules
Source: Reuters
#BUSINESS NEWS JANUARY 24, 2018 / 10:15 PM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
Trump administration backs bills to toughen foreign investment rules
Reuters Staff
2 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration supports bipartisan bills in Congress to toughen U.S. foreign investment rules amid growing concern about Chinese efforts to buy U.S. high-tech companies, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.
The legislation would broaden the governments power to stop foreign purchases of U.S. firms by strengthening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
The bills would achieve the twin aims of protecting national security and preserving the longstanding United States open investment policy, the White House said.
The bills, introduced in November by Republican Senator John Cornyn and Republican Representative Robert Pittenger, have Republican and Democratic co-sponsors. The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on the topic on Thursday.
The legislation would expand CFIUS reach to allow it to review, and potentially reject, smaller investments and add new national security factors for CFIUS to consider. Those factors include whether information about Americans, such as Social Security numbers, would be exposed as part of the transaction or whether the deal would facilitate fraud.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-regulation-m-a/trump-administration-backs-bills-to-toughen-foreign-investment-rules-idUSKBN1FE08L