The Vital Review of Cross-Border Investments: Ensuring Security and Growth
In a global economy, ensuring U.S. national security and international collaboration is crucial. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an inter-agency body, stands at this nexus: safeguarding America’s interests, economic progress, competitiveness and transparency.
Congress codified the authorities that guide CFIUS in the 1980s and clearly affirmed the importance of remaining open to foreign investment while focusing narrowly — and strictly — on national security-related threats, not economic isolationism. That was the standard reaffirmed when Congress made reforms in the mid-2000s and when Congress passed the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) in 2018.
CFIUS must address legitimate security threats but should never become a tool for domestic competitors to do what they failed to achieve in the competitive market.
The U.S. is the world’s largest recipient of global investment, with the vast majority entering through mergers and acquisitions. Take a look at how those investments benefit America’s economy:
There have been calls to ignore the standard process and jeopardize the legitimacy of the Committee. CFIUS should never become a tool for garnering political favor or allowing domestic competitors to achieve something they cannot do in a competitive market. Efforts to delay or derail CFIUS reviews could have far-ranging consequences, damaging America’s investment climate. A critical factor in the attraction of the United States to international companies is our country’s commitment to the rule of law and the predictability and stability of our regulatory framework.
Since our member companies are frequent fliers of the CFIUS process, a core priority for GBA is to ensure that politics play no part in the cross-border investment review process. Take a look below at GBA’s CFIUS resources and the advocacy work that has recently been done.
Check out GBA’s factsheet on the CFIUS review process. Feel free to utilize this in your discussions with policymakers, colleagues and stakeholders.
In response to backlash surrounding Nippon Steel Corporation’s plans to acquire U.S. Steel, Nancy McLernon, GBA’s president and CEO, sent a letter to Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury Secretary and Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), urging her not to allow the review process to be unduly politicized.
Read the full letter.
Read insights from Nancy McLernon, GBA’s president and CEO, about how politicizing cross-border investments can make America less globally competitive.
Check out the Financial Times and Barron’s articles about GBA’s letter to Secretary Yellen urging her to keep politics out of the CFIUS review process.