Bill introduced in Congress to review foreign investment in US

A bipartisan bill seeking to review and assess the impact of foreign investments on the US economy and job market has been introduced in the Congress.

The legislation was introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown and Senator Chuck Grassley.

The legislation seeks to review certain foreign investments to determine if they are in the economic interest of the US, not a foreign individual or foreign government.

"President (Donald) Trump committed to putting a stop to US industry's being taken advantage of by foreign companies and countries," said Grassley in a statement.

"This bipartisan legislation is an opportunity to fulfil that pledge by empowering the administration to block foreign investment that threatens the United States' long-term economic interests," he added.

"State-owned enterprises and foreign investors determined to put American companies out of business should not be able to invest in our economy at the expense of American workers," said Brown.

The bill would require the Commerce Department to approve any investment that would result in foreign control of a US company worth more than USD 1 billion.

The department would also approve "any transaction of a state-owned enterprise" that would leave a US business worth more than USD 50 million in foreign control.

Among other things, the bill proposes to create a process to efficiently review investments.

Within 15 days, the secretary of commerce must approve or prohibit the transaction or inform the parties to the transaction that additional time is needed to complete the review.

If the secretary requires an extended review of the investment, a decision to approve, prohibit, or require modification of the transaction is due within 45 days of receiving written notification.

The secretary has the option to request 15 additional days for the extended review, but all transactions are reviewed and acted on within 60 days of receiving written notification.

The bill gives Congress the ability to request additional reviews.

It also gives the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee or House Ways and Means Committee the opportunity to request that the secretary of commerce review investments of any value.

Under the legislation, the secretary of commerce must make all decisions public and submit an annual report to Congress on results of transactions reviewed.

It also calls for a 10-day public comment period for each investment subject to an extended review.

"Foreign investments should lead to good-paying jobs in Chillicothe and Chardon not huge payouts for the Chinese government," said Brown.

"State-owned enterprises and foreign investors determined to put American companies out of business should not be able to invest in our economy at the expense of American workers.

It's simple before we do business with a foreign entity, let s make sure it will create jobs and grow the US economy," Brown said.

US companies and workers are responsible for some of the greatest technological, scientific and industrial achievements in history, while foreign companies backed by cheap state- sponsored capital looking to undercut those achievements do the US real harm.

"This bill further equips the administration with the ability to fight back against unfair trade barriers to US exports and businesses. Europe, Canada, Australia and China have similar investment screens already in place. The United States shouldn't be left in the dust. We should follow suit," Grassley said.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)