Global Competition Review Quotes Laura Black on CFIUS and Chinese Plant in Mich.

For its article “CFIUS declines to review controversial Chinese battery plant in Michigan,” Global Competition Review quoted Akin international trade senior counsel Laura Black. The article reports that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) held that it does not have jurisdiction over a Chinese battery maker’s purchase of land in Michigan to build a manufacturing plant. GCR reports that the Chinese company’s U.S. subsidiary disclosed that the Treasury Department, which chairs CFIUS, informed it that the land purchase is not a covered transaction under the Defense Production Act of 1950.

Laura, who served as the Director of Policy and International Relations, CFIUS, Office of Investment Security, said that CFIUS’s decision was not a surprise as it, generally, does not have jurisdiction over greenfield transactions and does not conduct reviews if the foreign buyer is not investing in an extant business or acquiring land near specified government facilities.

She added, “That said, I think this determination of no jurisdiction, following the determination in the Fufeng [Group acquisition of land near a North Dakota military base] case, will increase congressional interest in expanding CFIUS’s authority. State legislatures also will continue to debate the issue and likely enact additional restrictions.”