NUCLEAR OPTION

Report: U.S. Plans Emergency Law to Curb Chinese Investment

Would declare some deals as threats to national security.

The Treasury Department is planning to implement an emergency law that would declare some Chinese investments in U.S. companies to be threats to economic and national security, Bloomberg News reports. The plan would allow the White House to use one of the most severe possible legal measures to heighten scrutiny of China’s investment in companies involved in technologies such as new-energy vehicles, robotics, and aerospace, according to the report. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly wants to administer the law through an inter-agency government panel called the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S., or CFIUS. One proposal is to create a two-tracked CFIUS process to review investments, with one specifically for China, according to two unnamed people said to be familiar with the discussions.