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Anti-China Bill Being Softened After US Companies Complain (reuters.com)

Proposed legislation in Congress aimed at preventing China from acquiring sensitive technology is being softened after protests by big U.S. companies who fear a loss in sales, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. From the report: Two bills in the House of Representatives and Senate would broaden the powers of the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) in hopes of stopping Chinese efforts to acquire sophisticated U.S. technology. The bipartisan legislation has the support of President Donald Trump's administration. "We are concerned that it vastly expands the scope and jurisdiction (of CFIUS)," said Nancy McLernon, chief executive of the Organization for International Investment, a group that represents global companies with U.S. operations. Given the alarm that the legislation has caused, Senator John Cornyn's staff is drafting changes to address industry concerns, according to three sources. Cornyn's office did not respond to a request for comment.

13 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. Our corporations deserve Chinese labor! by dicobalt · · Score: 3, Funny

    How are they supposed to compete if they aren't permitted $2/hr labor? Why should corporations pay a fair wage? What they really need is a resurgence of slavery in the American south. Think about the poor stockholders trying to send their children to college while owning 3 SUVs commuting 60 miles a day, a $250-500K house, and a nice fishing boat. Those poor stockholders need more profits from $2/hr labor provided by totally uneducated people who have no idea how economics works and are banned by law to represent themselves! THINK OF THE POOR STOCKHOLDERS!

    1. Re:Our corporations deserve Chinese labor! by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Informative

      You joke, but there have already been voices that we should do away with compulsory education and child labor laws.

      And yes, I mean in the US.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Our corporations deserve Chinese labor! by pr0fessor · · Score: 2

      Working in the metal shop with my Dad taught me one very important thing. I wanted to work smarter not harder. My father was constantly finding new ways and even making new kinds of tools to do the job faster and easier. His best hope for me was that I wouldn't be part of the family business and he told me frequently.

      Which is why I got an education and and don't work in the family business. That business is closed now and all of my siblings went to college and do something else.

  2. This could benefit China by jbrown.za · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Chinese technology sector is rapidly catching up to the US. All a ban like this will accomplish is to make China more self sufficient.

  3. The proposed changes are by raymorris · · Score: 5, Informative

    The current draft of the bill would allow the committee to review certain deals related to handing over "critical technology" or a "critical infrastructure" company. Two potential changes have been suggested. Congress could define more precisely what those terms mean, limiting the committee's review power more specifically. Congress could also delete those provisions as they relate to transactions other than China buying a US company. Transactions in which China buys the "critical technology" output from US companies could then be regulated by other agencies which handle export controls.

  4. Wait by hackwrench · · Score: 2

    Why are we hurting people again?

  5. Re:"free" trade liars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Here is an idea for you. Take all the unemployed able bodied, give them room & board, basic access to the internet, 3 meals a day, and the only requirement is that they dig or fill a hole of dirt for 8 hours a day. Its actually a better idea than the inefficiencies you proposed. The societal healthcare cost reduction from the workout alone will be a better benefit than all the inefficient jobs your proposal generates.

    Let me be blunt, NO I don't want your shitty, small, few options, higher cost Joe's Corner Mart. I will take the Walmart, Kroger, Target, Publix, Amazon.com, etc that gather the goods I want from around the world. Because you may think otherwise, but I do actually want to do other things with the money I saved... however little the rest of you may think it is....

  6. This really is fake news. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Proposed legislation in Congress aimed at preventing China from acquiring sensitive technology is being softened after protests by big U.S. companies who fear a loss in sales

    This portion of the summary conflicts with the facts:

    Nancy McLernon, chief executive of the Organization for International Investment, a group that represents global companies with U.S. operations

    The truthful facts of this issue is that China is stealing or being given sensitive technology that harms US companies and interests. An organization representing the non-US companies that benefit from IP theft and noncompetitive quasi-legal corporate espionage practices says stopping that flow of technology will harm sales.

    Of course it will harm their sales. That is the point!

    Do we run news articles about prisoners that believe harsher penalties on crime will harm their freedoms and claim law-abiding citizens made the claim?

    Of course not. For that would be, at best, propaganda of a narrow interest group.

    Reuters knows better. Msmash knows better.

  7. Re:Heh... by gtall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There was no swamp, that was merely el Presidente Tweetie ginning up yet another fake antagonist for himself. He did a bank shot off the Republican view that the Federal government exists for itself. The Federal government looks the way it does because the American people want it that way. ePT cannot exist without straw men to get his followers excited about...it is just typical despot behavior done over the centuries the world over. No imagination, no class.

  8. You understand it, but don't by raymorris · · Score: 2, Insightful

    >. 'Its less efficient to have a zillion independent stores versus a few thousand Wal Marts you say? Yes, but it's much more job-intensive.

    You're exactly right, that would be less efficient, needing more people to work to produce the same amount of stuff.

    I wonder what you're estimates are to fill in these blanks:

    If it takes 1 person to produce and sell $100,000 of value, that person can be paid a maximum of $__________.
    If it takes 10 people to produce and sell $100,000 of value, each of those ten people can be paid a maximum of $_______.

    Let's take as an example my job. My job requires one person to produce $200,000 of stuff. So the maximum amount my employer could pay me, without going out of business, is $200,000. It also takes other things that cost money, such as an office, computer, etc, so that reduces how much they can pay me and stay afloat. If it took ten people to do the same thing ("more job intensive"), the company can still afford to pay no more than $200,000, so that's $20,000 each, maximum.

    "Job intensive" (labor intensive) is generally considered a BAD thing, because more people working to produce the same revenue means the revenue has to be divided between more people. As an example, picking $10,000 worth of corn by hand takes 50 times as many people as picking it with a mechanical harvester. That's why the manual pickers got paid $1/hour and harvester operators make about $50/hour.

    The ideal is generally considered to *reduce* how labor-intensive tasks are. Most people would rather make $50/hour rather than $1/hour. Also, the lower production costs per unit mean lower prices per unit. Normally we'd say we'd rather have high wages (due to higher efficiency per working hour) and low prices (due to low labor cost per unit).

  9. Re:China's anti-US policies by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Presumably done to reflect or counter US and Trump's anti-China policies, China specifically targets US-made software with protectionist policies. I know this because I work in sales and I'm impacted :(

    This isn't anything new.

    The chinese have been spying and their espionage ranges from military to commercial.....and we really used to be cognizant of it and fight it back in the earlier days.

    However, back then (60's and earlier), china wasn't the econmomic powerhouse they have become in recent decades....and while we like the money, we've let our guard down and let them take the upper hand in negotiations, etc.

    The thing is, China thinks waaaay ahead with their plans, whereas we in the US seem to do well to see past 5 days, much less a year at a time.

    I'm not a huge Trump fan, but one thing that the administration seems to at least be doing, is trying in some ways to address chinese aggression, which IS going on, has been going on, and trust me, they have long term laid plans to KEEP being aggressive.

    They spy on everyone (not just the US)....and look how they are trying to encroach on international waters off their coast with the building of artificial "islands" and militarizing them.

    Yes, we have to work with them, but we need to be wary of them and WILLING to stand up to them and say "no" from time to time.

    If we only think of the commercial all mighty dollar in short term plans and actions, we'll lose the fight more than we already are doing currently.

    We're letting them have too much leverage on us and the world as it is....

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  10. News? by thunderclees · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is already common knowledge that the PRC gets access to bleeding edge US technology by pumping its citizens through higher ed. and into R&D of major firms. It would also be naive to think that the PRC would not miss a back door opportunity since it manufactures most communications and computing equipment of not all of it.

    This is why the concern over Huawei and ZTE is puzzling as many/all mobiles are already made in the PRC, why would these be any different. It has also been shown before that the PRC or jsut about anyone with the right numbers can buy their way through to getting anything they want from the US government. One need only look at the quagmire created by Hillary Clinton selling rubber stamp approval and access as SOS.

    “Countries have the right to development, but they should view their own interests in the broader context. And refrain from pursuing their own interests at the expense of others.” - Xi Jinping

  11. Convenient euphemism by q4Fry · · Score: 2

    "Swamp" is just shorthand for "people [in Washington DC] who disagree with him." If he gains their approval, they're no longer the swamp. When he does something daft and they point out as much, they're part of the swamp again.