Posted on 09/17/2016 2:13:13 AM PDT by cba123
WASHINGTON — Two North Carolina lawmakers are pressuring the Government Accountability Office to review the authorities of a U.S. Treasury Department interagency committee that decides how much control a foreign individual can have over a U.S. business.
Rep. Robert Pittenger of Charlotte and Rep. Walter Jones of Farmville are two of 16 Republican lawmakers who sent a letter to the government watchdog about their concern over whether the statutory and administrative authorities of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States are insufficient. Half the lawmakers who signed the letter are chairmen and vice chairmen of subcommittees with vested interests in how foreign acquisitions affect the U.S. economy and threaten national security. Pittenger spearheaded the letter. It is the second letter he has sent to the government within the past eight months regarding Chinese acquisition in the United States.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article102296757.html#storylink=cpy
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
Our government is finally starting to pay attention?
How did that happen?
Of course the other side of the coin is the question of how much control of Congress do foreign nations/nationals have?
(Maybe)
It seems both sides are well and truly, sold out.
Both of them.
Thought you may be right, the Dems more-so.
But not by a whole lot, it seems to this poster.
Virginia-based Smithfield Foods is the world’s largest hog farmer and pork processor, vending packaged meat products in the U.S. under a variety of brand names such as Smithfield, Eckrich, Farmland, Armour, John Morrell, Kretschmar, Curly’s, Carando, Cook’s, Margherita, Gwaltney, and Healthy Ones.
In September 2013 Smithfield Foods was acquired by China’s biggest meat processor, Shuanghui International Holdings, in the largest acquisition ever of a U.S. company by a Chinese one — a deal that has raised concerns in America about a Chinese food company’s controlling a major U.S. meat supplier.
Excellent article on this topic:
http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/02/22/china-syngenta-smithfield
FEB 22, 2016
ChemChina’s pending $43 billion offer for the agrichemical company Syngenta, the world’s most populous country is making a major play to buy the proverbial American farm—and U.S. politicians are lending a helping hand.
On Feb. 11, Nebraska’s Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts signed L.B. 176 into law, reversing a 1999 law that prevented meatpackers from owning livestock for more than five days prior to slaughter. Pork processors like Smithfield, which owns a plant employing more than 2,000 in Crete, Nebraska, will soon be able to vertically integrate their operations. Instead of buying hogs from numerous independent farmers, farmers will contract with processors like Smithfield for the privilege of selling their pork.
It’s a big concern for farmers who worry the pork industry will be swallowed up by contract farming, like the chicken industry. This is one area where pork producers don’t want to be “the other white meat.” Chicken “growers” are paid to raise the birds on their land as well as pay for expensive poultry houses, labor, and maintenance. But it’s the major poultry companies who own the chickens—as well as the hatcheries, slaughterhouses, and feed.
Based on past behavior, allowing the deal with Syngenta to go through raises the possibility that China could use its new acquisition to gain an unfair advantage over the global seed market, Johnson said. If more seed companies consolidate (or are pushed out of business), the consequences could be dire for the genetic diversity of seeds sold on the commercial market.
ChemChina Clinches U.S. Security Nod for Syngenta Purchase
China National Chemical Corp. received approval from U.S. national security officials for its takeover of Swiss agrochemical and seeds company Syngenta AG, seen as the biggest regulatory hurdle that the $43 billion acquisition faces.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. has cleared the transaction, the companies said in a statement Monday. The deal, expected to be completed by the end of the year, is still subject to antitrust review by regulators worldwide, according to the statement.
“The CFIUS approval removes a major potential hurdle and should come as a relief to Syngenta shareholders,” said Christian Faitz, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux.
Shares of Syngenta jumped as much as 13 percent. Since announcing the deal in February, the stock has traded below ChemChina’s bid price amid investor concerns that regulators in the U.S. might block the deal. The takeover is leading a record wave of Chinese acquisitions that has prompted U.S. officials to consider claims that some purchases could threaten national security.
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