Sen. Sherrod Brown sent a letter to President Trump on Wednesday urging him to stay tough in trade talks with China. That same day, the Senate Banking Committee passed a bill co-sponsored by Brown with a similar goal.
Brown says no country is more aggressive than China in acquiring sensitive American technology to make its own. State-run Chinese companies often require American companies to share technology to get access to their market.
“No country has been more aggressive than China in going after American technology in aviation, robotics, new energy, vehicles and other things where the U.S. has established itself as a global leader,” Brown says.
The government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is supposed to review acquisition of American companies by foreigners. But Brown says China has been finding ways around it.
“For example, if a Chinese investor wanted to buy a controlling stake in an American company, CFIUS would review that deal and have a chance to block it,” Brown says. "But if Chinese investors instead got seats on that company board, they could still have access to the same sensitive technology without triggering a CFIUS review. That’s present law. That’s what we want to change.”
Brown’s bill gives broad new oversight powers to the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. In passing its committee vote, the bill takes a major step toward a full Senate vote.
Browns hopes the measure will become law by the end of the year. A companion bill passed in a similarly important committee, the Financial Services Committee, in the House.
Along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Brown wrote to Trump urging him to not ease U.S. penalties against Chinese tech company ZTE. Previously, the U.S. sought to punish ZTE for selling items to countries in violation of sanctions , but Trump tweeted that he would reverse the penalties to save Chinese jobs.
