US may sound ‘emergency’ to curb China investments
washington — The US Treasury is considering ways to restrict sensitive Chinese investments in the United States by invoking an emergency powers law and bringing forward some security review reforms for corporate acquisitions, a senior Treasury official said.
The efforts were being examined as part of the Trump administration’s “Section 301” intellectual property remedies, which include China-specific investment restrictions, Assistant Secretary for International Markets and Investment Heath Tarbert told an Institute of International Finance Forum.
Asked about reports the Treasury may bring forward parts of a bill to modernise security reviews by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Tarbert said a special Treasury office devoted to the China restrictions was considering such avenues. “We have separate offices in Treasury which are considering those two issues distinctly,” Tarbert said.
A Treasury office that manages CFIUS is separate from the office working on China investment restrictions, he said.
Speaking in Beijing on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the mooted move was another example of US “hegemonic attitudes”.
“On the one hand the US wants us to open our markets further yet on the other hand it sets restrictions for Chinese trade and investment in the name of national security,” Hua said.
The Treasury investment restrictions are aimed partly at pressuring China to lift requirements for foreign companies to form joint ventures with local firms that lead to technology transfers, a policy the administration deems unfair when the United States has no such restrictions on Chinese firms.
In a major policy shift, China said on Tuesday it would scrap a 50 per cent limit on foreign ownership of autos by 2022.
Tarbert said the Treasury was committed to working with Congress to pass the CFIUS legislation, known as the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernisation Act, or Firrma. —