WASHINGTON A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday called for President Joe Biden to issue an executive order to boost oversight of investments by U.S. companies and individuals in China and other countries.
The lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Senator John Cornyn urged Biden to issue an order to safeguard national security and supply chain resiliency on outbound investments to foreign adversaries. Congress is considering a bill that would give the U.S. government sweeping new powers to block billions of US outbound investments into China. The proposal was retracted from bipartisan legislation to subsidize U.S. semiconductor chip manufacturing and research in a bill approved in August.
In a letter to Biden, Democrats Bill Pascrell, House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro, Senator Bob Casey and Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick and Victoria Spartz said that our national security cannot afford to wait as negotiations continue. They also urged the president to safeguard nation's security and supply chain resiliency on outbound investments to foreign adversaries. The White House did not make a statement.
In Washington, Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy, said the allegation that China is hurting the interests of American workers is completely wrong. The United States should maintain the stability of the global industrial and supply chains rather than pick on China from time to time, the official said.
A White House national security official Peter Harrell said this month that the Biden administration has not made a final decision on a potential outbound investment mechanism that regulates U.S. investments in China.
Harrell stressed that any measures targeting investments should be narrowly tailored to address gaps in existing U.S. authorities and specific national security risks.
When we give up our manufacturing power and technological know-how to foreign adversaries, we are hurting our economy, our global competitiveness, American workers, industry, and national security. The lawmakers wrote that government action on this front is long overdue to address the scope and magnitude of the serious risks we face as a country.
On Thursday, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on outbound investment that will feature testimony from Cornyn, Casey and several former government officials, including Information Technology Industry Council Executive Vice President Robert Strayer.
The proposed legislation is intended to give the government greater visibility into U.S. investments. It would be mandatory to notify the government of investments that could fall under the new regulations, and the United States could use existing authorities to stop investments or mitigate risk. If no action is taken, the investment can move forward.