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President Donald Trump’s plan to set up a new means of vetting Chinese investments in the US is already meeting with resistance from both parties on Capitol Hill.
In an interview aired Thursday morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that officials in Beijing would discuss a US-China board of investment, which he said would determine “non-sensitive areas where it would be possible for the Chinese to invest.”
Bessent said the board would “make sure that these investments don’t get referred to” the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, despite US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer recently telling Semafor that the board wouldn’t “affect” CFIUS, which already screens certain investments for national security purposes.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Semafor he’s “very reluctant to have this administration arbitrarily choosing who goes through CFIUS and who doesn’t.” Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, were clear their support will hinge on specifics — like which officials serve on the board and what time of investments it greenlights.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he’s “all for China investing in a way that … creates American jobs” — but warned he’s an “absolutely hard no” on any new agreements that dealt with artificial intelligence or boosted Chinese ownership of US land.
“I don’t really want them owning stuff,” Hawley told Semafor. “Already, I think, Chinese-based corporations own way too much of our real estate, way too much farmland — I wouldn’t want to see any more of that.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he “would have a lot of open questions,” including why such a board was necessary in the first place.
“Generally speaking, I’m not into new boards,” Tillis told Semafor. “So one [question] is just: Does the board need to exist?”
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The chair of the House’s China select committee, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said he’s “been advocating for a stronger role for CFIUS.” He added that any new board must also be able to adequately vet China’s claims.
“Will there be due diligence? Because ultimately, they aren’t always transparent and truthful,” Moolenaar said. “It’s going to be important to have accurate information.”
Others were more sympathetic to the administration’s aims. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who recently returned from a bipartisan trip to China, said he thinks the board is necessary given “the rapid pace of innovation today.”
“We’ve got to have approval processes that similarly can move quickly,” Daines told Semafor.
But he added that “it always comes down to having the right people with the right principles using the right discretion.”
Neither the White House nor the Treasury Department responded to requests for comment.