Biden Should Quickly Issue Outbound Investment EO, Lawmakers Say
The Biden administration should take “immediate action” through an executive order to screen U.S. outbound investments in China, Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in a commentary published this week in The Washington Times. Although the two lawmakers championed the National Critical Capabilities Defense Act, which would create a Committee on National Critical Capabilities to review those investments, they said the administration can move more quickly.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
“The act offers a long-term solution, but the Biden administration has the ability to stop the bleeding now by taking immediate action through an executive order providing for outbound investment screening to safeguard our national security and supply chain resiliency,” the lawmakers said, adding that Congress included a “down payment” on the potential EO in the most recent government spending package. The package provided $10 million each to the Treasury and Commerce departments to study what resources they need to implement a new outbound investment screening mechanism (see 2212270030).
“We cannot wait,” DeLauro and McCaul wrote. “America needs provisions that will screen what our companies” are investing in China.
DeLauro and McCaul’s comments came the same day former national security officials urged the Biden administration to not issue a unilateral executive order and instead work with Congress to carefully study a potential outbound investment regime (see 2302070052). Some also criticized the National Critical Capabilities Defense Act for being too broad and said the U.S. should examine whether it can use existing authorities to screen those investments (see 2302080034).