US considers new restrictions on Chinese investment

Hurdles to foreign investments in sensitive US companies would be raised under proposed legislation that responds to perceived threats to national security from China and elsewhere. A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers on Wednesday put forward legislation that would broaden the remit of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and widen the criteria it uses to assess threats to US security, the Financial Times reports. The lawmakers explicitly linked the reforms to an expansion of Chinese purchases of US companies, potentially fuelling tensions with Beijing just as US President Donald Trump landed in the Chinese capital for a state visit. The bill follows an expansion in the number of Chinese deals in the US and demands for heightened scrutiny of purchases of US technology companies and attempts to force American companies to hand over valuable intellectual property. In September Trump blocked the $1.3bn sale of US chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor to a Chinese-funded investment firm.