CFIUS Might Need Upgrade If China Boosts US Investment, Lawmaker Says
House Select Committee on China ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., said Oct. 29 that Congress might need to pass legislation to enhance the ability of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to screen transactions for national security risks.
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Such legislation could be especially important if Chinese President Xi Jinping offers to make “massive new investments” in the U.S. during his meeting with President Donald Trump this week, Krishnamoorthi said during an Atlantic Council virtual event in response to a question submitted by Export Compliance Daily.
“Some people are talking of upwards of $1 trillion worth of investments [from China], and I know that Donald Trump likes to talk about inbound investments,” Krishnamoorthi said. “However, from a national security standpoint, that would mean that CFIUS … needs to work better. To me, it doesn’t work as well as it should right now. There might be legislation that would beef that up and make it more efficient and effective if we’re talking about more investments coming in” from an adversary like China.
Krishnamoorthi also said he hopes the Trump-Xi meeting addresses China’s dumping practices and leads China to increase its purchase of American soybeans and reduce its exports of fentanyl precursor chemicals.
The lawmaker would oppose allowing China to buy the most advanced U.S. computing chips, which he believes would aid the Asian country's military modernization and surveillance apparatus. He introduced a bill in August that would require Congress, not just the executive branch, to approve the sale of certain advanced AI chips to China (see 2508220015). He also opposes reported delays in arms shipments to Taiwan.
Krishnamoorthi said he would support a new U.S.-China agreement to transfer ownership of TikTok from China’s ByteDance to American investors if there is no operational relationship between the new TikTok entity and ByteDance (see 2509250064). He helped pass a 2024 law that requires ByteDance to divest TikTok.