Congressional efforts to reform the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a U.S. Government interagency committee that conducts national security reviews, continue apace. This week saw the introduction of bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate that would (i) give federal agriculture and food officials permanent representation on CFIUS and (ii) amend the statute to allow the Committee to consider agriculture and food-related criteria when reviewing transactions that could result in control of a U.S.…

Lawmakers in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are examining ways to restrict Chinese investment in the United States by reforming national security reviews conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a U.S. Government interagency committee. The prospects for statutory changes to CFIUS reviews appear greater now than at any time since the underlying statute was overhauled nearly a decade ago.…

The future of the Border Adjustment Tax (BAT) proposal, a critical element of the House Republican tax reform plan, is in doubt after signs of Republican opposition in the Senate emerged last week. Senator David Perdue (R-GA) became the most prominent Republican to overtly criticize the BAT, expressed in a Dear Colleague letter to his fellow Senators.  Under the “Better Way” tax reform proposal advanced by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Ways &…

On 23 November 2015, President Obama issued an executive order imposing targeted sanctions against certain persons or entities contributing to the insecurity and violence in Burundi. Read More: Sanctions Developments – Burundi and Liberia…

Capping two weeks of debate, the Senate voted 62-37 just before Memorial Day recess to restore trade promotion authority, sending the bill to the House of Representatives. Read More: Trade Promotion Authority Debate Heads to House …

After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, on April 16, 2015, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) introduced legislation, S. 995 and H.R. 1890, to restore trade promotion authority (TPA). The TPA bill provides the administration with negotiating objectives for future trade agreements and allows it to submit implementing legislation for the final agreement to Congress for an up-or-down…