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US-CHINA-TRADE-SECURITY-INVESTMENTS
Amid China talks, Trump touts new investment security powers
WASHINGTON, Aug 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump on Thursday
hailed recent reforms toughening Washington’s powers to prevent foreign
investments that could threaten national security or allow the theft of
American technology.
Trump’s remarks on the legislation, which was enacted earlier this month
and does not target specific countries, coincided with a visit by trade
negotiators from China — a country he accuses of rampant industrial
espionage and forced transfers of intellectual property.
“I think not enough focus has been put on China and that’s been for a long
time,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
The accusations are at the center of a trade war between Washington and
Beijing, which Trump launched earlier this year, and which escalated Thursday
with each country hitting another $16 billion in goods with steep new
tariffs.
“This weakens our economy when they steal, destroys our jobs and threatens
the security of our country,” Trump said.
“We now have a right to stop it. They won’t be stealing our companies
anymore, especially companies that are quite complex.”
The reforms adopted this month as part of a defense spending bill updated
30-year-old statutes giving the president broad powers to block foreign
investments in sensitive industries or those deemed harmful to US national
security.
– Expanded powers –
Senior administration officials told reporters Thursday that the Foreign
Investment Risk Review Modernization Act was not aimed at any one country —
but reiterated calls on China to end what Washington describes as predatory
trade practices.
Passed with broad bipartisan support among lawmakers, the legislation
expands the powers of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United
States (CFIUS), allowing it to cover both land concessions and real estate
purchases as well as minority investments in companies that could allow
technology and sensitive private data to be transferred outside the United
States.
Prior to the changes, “if someone bought a vacant piece of land and later
put a business on it, we couldn’t review that,” one official said.
Washington accuses Beijing of founding its aspirations for global
industrial dominance on unfair state intervention in markets, state-sponsored
corporate acquisitions, forcing foreign companies to divulge commercial
secrets and hacking.
Officials from the US Treasury and Trade Representative’s office were
holding a second day of talks Thursday with their Chinese counterparts to
resolve the impasse which has seen tariffs slapped on $100 billion in goods
exchanged in both directions.
BSS/AFP/HR/1010